4 minute read
Understanding South Island freight challenges
by CILTNZ
The South Island has a large stake in freight, indicative of this train for Rolleston leaving the Lyttelton Tunnel at Heathcote. While the South Island makes up only 23 per cent of Aotearoa’s population, it’s responsible for approximately 30 per cent of the nation’s exports by value, and up to half of its primary exports. Photo: Glen Anthony
Freight has been a prominent agenda item for South Island regional councillors in recent months. Supply chain disruptions and the recent government direction to reduce transport-sector greenhouse gas emissions have heightened interest in the topic.
The South Island Regional Transport Committee Chairs (RTC Chairs) Group hosted a South Island Freight Summit in March. The RTC Chairs group was established in 2016 with the purpose of significantly improving transport outcomes in the South Island through collaboration and integration.
The Chairs have had a long-standing interest in both freight and visitor journeys across the South Island, and in 2019 commissioned a study into opportunities for a freight-mode shift. The study estimated the wider benefits to society from a 40 per cent increase in South Island rail freight tonnage.
Conservatively, this was calculated to be in the range of $12-18 million per year, through factors such as reduced road maintenance, improved road safety, and environmental benefits. cent of Aotearoa’s population, it’s responsible for approximately 30 per cent of the nation’s exports by value, and up to half of its primary exports. A third of KiwiRail’s business is in the South Island.
The South Island has some unique challenges compared to the North – specifically, its lower population base, relative isolation, and challenging geography.
Among state highways, the top of the South, West Coast, Canterbury and Otago are four of the top five at-risk regions in New Zealand by a number of natural hazard risks, and the top four regions by criticality (the number of risks with a major or critical risk rating) .
The shift toward just-in-time supply chains, combined with the effects of climate change, is exacerbating the impact of disruptions on many South Island communities. For example, when the Rangitata River flooded in 2019 and the Ashburton River/Hakatere in 2021, State Highway 1 had to be closed. The lower South Island supermarkets ran out of bread within three days. inaccessible by road or rail for months. The South Island also has many issues in common with the North – a heterogenous supply chain, a predominance of small to medium enterprises and a reliance on road freight.
In line with national and international trends, freight demand in the South Island is predicted to grow by up to 70 per cent within the next 30 years by some estimates.
The purpose of the South Island Freight Summit was to pick up on previous work undertaken at a South Island level and ensure a joined-up discussion. These discussions focused on the changes taking place in the sector and the role of councils and regional transport committees in supporting and facilitating change.
Infrastructure guest speakers included sector representatives from the Ministry of Transport, Lyttelton Port Company, Swire Shipping and KiwiRail. User case studies included Nga -i Tahu Holdings Ltd, Sorted Logistics, Wareing Group and Hiringa Energy.
SH 73, westbound near Cass, heading towards Arthur’s Pass. Photo: Bruce Shalders
per cent of its road transport greenhouse gas emissions attributed to freight movement. Other topics discussed included freight resilience and freight efficiency.
While growing rail and coastal shipping is seen as a key part of the solution, there is also recognition of the limitations of these modes and the continued importance of road freight. KiwiRail has said that while they could realistically double rail freight tonnage to and from Lyttelton Port from 20 per cent of current port throughput to 40 per cent, achieving more than this would be a challenge due to the freight origin and destination points not being well served by rail.
The road freight sector is efficient, reliable and relatively low cost, and will remain the dominant mode for moving goods into the future. Most freight movement is short distance –usually to and from the nearest port and producers, processing and manufacturing sites, or end consumers. freight sector will be critical to achieving emission reduction targets.
The Chairs consider that a better understanding (at least amongst councils) of economic drivers across the system would help to achieve the outcomes sought, especially if done in a way that supports the competitiveness of regional economies.
There is very little information, for example, on the intra-regional freight task within each New Zealand region, which hinders decisionmaking.
Chair of the South Island Regional Transport Committee Chairs Group, Councillor Stuart Bryant of Tasman District Council, said freight summit attendees came away with a broad overview of the South Island freight sector, including road, rail, coastal shipping, and ports.
Councillor Bryant said the event has put a stake in the ground for further advocacy and collaboration, including input into the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy. One of the key takeaways from the summit is the need to make greater use of rail and coastal shipping, and to work more effectively across transport modes,” he said.
Since the summit, the Chairs met twice in May to finalise a submission on the freight and supply chain issues paper. Waka Kotahi also announced in May the commitment of $30 million in funding from the 2021-24 National Land Transport Programme to support new coastal shipping services through four providers; Coastal Bulk Shipping Ltd, Move International Ltd, Swire Shipping NZ Ltd and Aotearoa Shipping Alliance.
The Government funding will support more than $60 million of private sector investment in the services, which will particularly benefit communities along the West Coast of the South Island, Taranaki and Taira -whiti regions by providing a new option for the movement of key freight commodities to/from major markets.
