Ports

Description

Background and history

New Zealand's ports are vital for the movement of freight. They account for over 99% of both merchandise exports and imports by volume and also support the movement of domestic freight. Coastal shipping (excluding the Wellington-Picton ferries) currently carries 4.2 million tonnes annually. This represents 1.9% of the national freight task or 15% measured in tonne-km, and is principally in the form of inter-island traffic and specialist bulk commodities.[66]

New Zealand had over 100 ports in the 19^th century. This halved by 1935 and has continued to decline since. By comparison, the volume of trade that is transported using ports has been steadily increasing. The following graph shows the change in volumes of trade over the last decade:

Figure 24: Volumes of cargo loaded and unloaded at New Zealand ports, 1997-2007

Source: Statistics New Zealand

Port infrastructure in New Zealand is highly reliant on other forms of infrastructure, namely road and rail linkages, to function. Therefore, decisions on road and rail infrastructure have a considerable impact on the performance and capacity of ports.

Assets

There are 14 exporting ports in New Zealand and a smaller number of other ports that service trade or fishing vessels, as shown in the table below:

Further detail on the New Zealand port sector can be obtained from reports by Rockpoint[67] and CRA[68]. For statistics on cargo movements by port, see the Statistics New Zealand website.[69]

Institutional arrangements

Despite the removal of ownership restrictions for ports almost two decades ago,[70] most ports in New Zealand remain majority owned by local government[71] and in many cases, local governments are the sole owners.

Port companies are not subject to price or rate of return regulation, and are therefore able to set their own prices. They fund their operations from capital markets by raising debt and equity.

Port companies are fully responsible for planning their own capital investments.