The Government will make a decision before the 2023 election on the location of a new port to replace Auckland’s, said Transport Minister Michael Wood.
Wood said a decision could be more than 18 months away, and would fit within other work on the future shape of the country’s freight network, including the future of rail.
The Government, and most other parties, have agreed during past debates in recent years, that council-owned Ports of Auckland will at some point outgrow its prime downtown location.
“There needs to be a well-reasoned strategic decision made on the best place for a future port, that we can get broad agreement across parties on,” Wood told Stuff.
Wood’s announcement re-opens an at-times heated debate about shifting Auckland’s downtown port, that has been parked since a July 2020 consultant’s report for the government, that favoured an “island” port in the Manukau Harbour.
A series of studies and reports over the past decade, all acknowledge Auckland’s port will outgrow its current site, but disagree on when, with the Port itself prepared to remain for another 27 years.
“All things being equal, it can continue to serve Auckland, and the freight task for the next 20-30 years,” said Wood.
“We have to start working towards decisions on alternative sites, considerably in advance of that because of the planning and consenting that goes into that,” he told Stuff.
There have been a series of reports over the past six years on the port’s future, but Wood said they had considered the move in isolation of wider issues, which the Government would look at.
The government would conduct a nationwide freight strategy, and upper north island freight strategy, as well as a rail plan.
“We have had particular pieces of work on options for where the port should go, and those had produced useful analysis,” he said.
“None looked at the broader freight strategy, how modes should work, how ports should relate to each, and that’s the critical piece of work we need to do.”
Proponents of a relocation say the port is occupying prime downtown waterfront land, and creating congestion with containers moved largely by trucks.
The most recent report, commissioned in 2020 by the Ministry of Transport, favoured building a new “island” port in either the Manukau Harbour, or as second choice the Firth of Thames.
It also said the current downtown Auckland location has just 30 years’ capacity left, giving the Government 10-15 years to make a final decision.
Wood said core decisions would include how many ports were needed – past reports had suggested no one, or even two ports would meet long term demand.
He said there were technical issues to explore, such as the 2020 Sapere report to the Government, which said dredging could overcome questions about the bar near the entrance to the west coast Manukau Harbour.
Earlier, the Upper North Island Supply Chain strategy chaired by Wayne Brown, following a coalition agreement between New Zealand First and Labour, favoured relocating to Northport near Whangarei.
Brown has continued to promote the idea at speaking engagements.
As Brown’s final report was still developing, the chief executive of Ports of Auckland Tony Gibson described the arguments as a “jumble of made-up ‘facts'”.
Gibson said in late 2019, he was not against an eventual move of the port from Auckland’s waterfront, “but can we at least move it somewhere sensible”.
“This is the fifth port study in my eight years as CEO of Ports of Auckland, and, well, let’s say it’s not the best,” said Gibson.
The mayor Phil Goff favours a relocation, but in a way that compensates ratepayers for the loss of the council-owned business which delivers annual dividends.
Wood said those were issues that would not be looked at this parliamentary term, when the focus would be on the wider strategy decisions.