KEY POINTS:
New Zealand firm Pacifica Shipping is launching what will be the largest New Zealand-operated cargo ship in decades to run in domestic waters.
The company said the introduction of the Spirit of Endurance next week marks the first step of a vital expansion of domestic sea freight capacity.
At 130m long, the ship will move around 1000 containers each week between the ports of Auckland, Tauranga, Canterbury and Otago, handling domestic goods as well as import and export cargo.
"This is a real step forward for the country's shipping industry, which has had more than its share of set-backs over the past 15 years," said Pacifica chief executive Rod Grout.
He said the vessel was well-suited to the Labour Government's Sea Change initiative of moving 30 per cent of all freight via coastal ships by 2030.
"Moving goods by sea is the safest, cleanest and most efficient transport mode, a fact only lately acknowledged and acted on by policy planners."
Grout said sea freight accounted for 15 per cent of total goods carried in New Zealand - about half of this on an ad hoc basis by in-transit overseas ships.
"By comparison, Japan moves 41 per cent of its domestic freight by coastal ships, so we have a lot to aspire to in terms of growth potential.
"But it will require more vessels linking our producer and consumer centres directly and not overly relying on Cook Strait for interisland freight."
He said around 2.5 million tonnes of domestic freight crossed Cook Strait on trucks each year, with just 1 million tonnes moved on all ships on the rest of the coast.
The new vessel trebles Pacifica's container carrying capacity. It adds to the ship Spirit of Resolution, which operates between Lyttelton, Nelson, New Plymouth and Auckland's Onehunga port each week.
