Geoff Green: Region cannot prosper without tanks for oils

Two Perspectives articles lately have advanced waterfront redevelopment proposals that presented clean-sheet plans for the Western Reclamation. They were prompted by the process that will soon see the Auckland City and Regional Councils release a master plan on Western Reclamation rezoning and redevelopment.

The local bodies' initial document did not communicate a substantive vision for the reclamation area. Nor did it reference the 11-point plan formulated by the city council during the Auckland Waterfront Advisory Group process and acknowledged at public meetings by John Duthie, the group manager of city planning, as being Western Reclamation development policy. It just left a void for commentators to fill in.

Many waterfront plans have been proposed but they ignore a fundamental element of the working waterfront because its visible front end is industrial and brings none of the public theatre associated with the marine or fishing industries, and because better-placed sites and viable alternative options are difficult to identify.

These proposals have sacrificed a significant portion of the bulk liquid infrastructure needed to service the region.

Most people assume that the tank farm stores petrol (not so, petrol is piped directly from Marsden Pt to Wiri). They are unaware it processes 90 per cent of New Zealand's edible oils (sunflower, canola, soybean, coconut and olive) and other products used in soaps, cosmetics, medicines, cleansing creams, shampoo, lubricants and a host of other household items.

Many regional industries rely on products and chemicals for ingredients and processing purposes imported via Wynyard Wharf. The uses include bitumen for roads, inks, paints, adhesives, resins, sealants, paints, polyurethane products, dyes, insulation, infant formula, food coatings and animal feeds, to name just a few.

The most efficient (and safest) way to handle these bulk materials is now in place. If there were more efficient methods, such as using ISO containers (promoted by the Ports of Auckland, which has a vested interest in rezoning the Western Reclamation for housing and boosting container volumes), the free market would be using them now.

Using relatively small-volume ISO tankers, flexi-tankers and 200-litre drums to replace a 250,000-tonne a year supply line (at today's levels) would introduce prohibitive costs and logistical and competitive problems for processors and manufacturers.

About 4000 jobs (in areas such as East Tamaki), annual regional business turnover of more than $1.2 billion and annual gross domestic product of $337 million would be jeopardised if Wynyard Wharf was closed, according to the 2004 Wynyard Wharf Bulk Liquid Economic Study.

Thousands of items such as cooking oil and margarine would rise in price when the Western Reclamation bulk liquid industry was shut down.

It's ironic that the overseas cities cited as worthy waterfront examples are serviced by bulk-liquid terminals. Granted they are not in the city centres, but they are there on the boundaries servicing the cities' needs.

Tauranga and Marsden Pt are often suggested as the alternative "boundary" ports to service Auckland's needs. But Marsden Pt does not have any bulk-liquid infrastructure outside of the refinery and there are no plans to build it. And shifting the industry to Tauranga is not as straightforward as it sounds.

Graham Catley, the chairman of the Westhaven Viaduct Tenants and Ratepayers Association's bulk liquid subcommittee, says close to $100 million in moving costs would be borne by the consumer if companies shifted to Tauranga.

Sourcing the Auckland region's bulk-liquid supplies from Tauranga would generate about 20,000 long-haul road tanker trips a year, adding about $10 million in direct transport costs and putting additional heavy traffic on the region's hard-pressed highways.

The Wynyard Wharf bulk liquid economic study said many industries in the tradeable sector would not be competitive when burdened with the terminal construction and transport costs associated with Tauranga, and industries servicing the non-tradeable sector would have to pass costs on to the consumer or go out of business.

In reality there are very few viable options to replace the tank farm, but with Ports of Auckland declining to renew leases when they expire between 2016 and 2025, companies can do nothing but dismantle their facilities.

If politicians don't make a zoning allowance for consolidated bulk-liquid operations on Wynyard Wharf, or insist that Ports of Auckland finds an alternative bulk-liquid site within its boundaries, the region will be constrained by another infrastructure shortfall.

The Resource Management Act will prevent similar infrastructure being rebuilt elsewhere, so politicians and planners must be doubly sure the region can function efficiently without it. But no economic study has been made to consider this aspect, and conservative figures provided by the industry have been ignored.

The Western Reclamation masterplan will without doubt represent a turning point in Auckland's waterfront redevelopment, but there is every chance it will ignore the bulk-liquid provisions in the city council's 11-point plan and knowingly erode the region's commercial viability.

* Geoff Green is co-ordinator for the Westhaven Viaduct Tenants and Ratepayers Association, whose membership includes marine, fishing, ferry, bulk materials and bulk-liquid companies. He is responding to Perspectives articles by Greg McKeown, on behalf of Heart of the City, and Joel Cayford, the chairman of the Auckland Regional Council transport committee.