Head to head: boxes versus cargo

Significant strategic development has seen three of New Zealand’s major ports reporting growing cargo throughputs.

Competing at the top of the North Island, the Ports of Auckland is the country’s largest container port but the Port of Tauranga is the largest port by cargo tonnage.

Tauranga has achieved cargo growth of 26% over the past decade to reach 12.3m tonnes in the latest financial year and recently completed a substantial infrastructure upgrade. Furthermore, it has few limitations for future growth in terms of land and berth space.

Handling about 700,000 teu per year, Auckland has existing capacity for 900,000 teu and can use additional “levers” such as increasing stack heights. Recent and planned development includes the acquisition of twin-lifting cranes and twin-lifting straddle carriers, the extension of the Axis Fergusson terminal, deepening of berths and the installation of remote refrigerated container monitoring systems.

The Axis Fergusson container terminal extension will provide an additional 120,000 teu capacity.

Also, a NZ$12m inland container port at Wiri opened last year and other inland port initiatives are being considered. The deepening of the commercial shipping lane will also be completed this year and the development of a Vehicle User Entry System is underway. These moves are expected to boost throughput at Auckland to 3m containers per year.

Where traffic congestion is a major issue for Auckland – an estimated 35% of truck movements are now being undertaken at night – rival Tauranga has the advantage of a less-congested road network.

And Tauranga has completed a substantial upgrade of both its MetroPort Auckland and Sulphur Point Container Terminal facilities.

Additionally, terminal tractors have been introduced, two straddle carriers are arriving later this year and its shuttle Select train service has been launched, boding well for future prospects.

On the South Island, Lyttelton Port of Christchurch (LPC) has reported a 10% rise in container throughput to 177,400 teu per year and a 3.4% increase in coal volume to 2.16m tonnes.

With 42% growth seen at its container terminal during the past three years, the port is assembling a third container crane, has introduced a container management system and has also restructured its marketing department.

But faced with a shortage of space, LPC has purchased 9.5 hectares in neighbouring suburb Woolston to provide container storage and related services. The port plans to spend more than NZ$90m over the next five years on capital development and rebuilding, including investments in a central office building, coal equipment, an oil wharf, a third container crane, container berth expansion, straddle carriers, car storage, IT and sheds.