Justin Tighe-Umbers: National Road Carriers CEO on the Port of Auckland raising its truck access charge

Port of Auckland's fee hikes are a bitter pill to swallow for transport operators. 

The port has announced a 77% increase for trucks entering the Fergusson Container Terminal during peak times – going from $130 to $230 by July next year.  

National Road Carriers Chief Executive Justin Tighe-Umbers told Ryan Bridge it's not so simple to work off peak, as they don't have the workforce to cover those hours. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Auckland's Port is hiking its access fees once again. From
next year the cost will rise, It will increase seventy
seven percent and twenty twenty two freight distributors would pay
around eight bucks a vehicle. Next year they'll be paying
as much as two hundred and thirty dollars a vehicle.
Just in tai Umba's National Road Carriers Association CEO with
me this morning, justin, good.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Morning, Good morning Ryan, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
They need to be profitable, that's their argument. They need
to be profitable and they need to get trucks off
the road during peak hours. Do you buy it?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, Look, we accept that the port has to make
a fear out of return for its owns or can
Council and it hasn't been today. But that's why the
port has gone and said its forecast charges as part
of its commitment to return a dividen into the council
under the ten year long term plan. And so last
year the port said its pricing pathway, they put an

(00:51):
access charge forecast to go up wapping thirty seven percent,
and the transport operators went happy with us, but they
took a deep breath and said about telling their customers
the bad news, hearing billing system adjustments, you know, all
of the admin work that goes in behind that white
patn this week is the porter's told them that thirty
seven percent increases not enough. It's going to be double

(01:12):
to seventy seven percent, as you say. And so transport
operator is absolutely fed up with the increases, the lack
of certainty. You administered a burden and they're getting absolutely
nothing back for this latest increase. There's no improvement to
services or anything like that.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
And guess what you've got nowhere else to go?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
That's right? What is it? Is a monopoly?

Speaker 1 (01:34):
What's the reaction been from the retailers? And who's going
to pay this cost? Because it's twenty five million bucks?
You reckon?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, Look, there's about ten thousand containers going through each week.
That translates to just another twenty five million dollars taken
out of the system effectively. And what this does is
it hurts the exporters, manufacturers, importers, and ultimately it hits
you and I in the pocket, so as can humans.
So you can think about the money go around. The

(02:02):
port sets up its charge, it gets passed through to
a transport operator, the then pass it through to freight border,
to the cargo owner, to retailer, and then ultimately we
pay for it. So yeah, there's a lot of frustration
all the way through that system. And the real issue
with this ryan is is that it's doing nothing to
lift our productivity as a nation, and in fact, every

(02:26):
dollar that goes on these charges make our exports less competitive.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
They say, if you go off peak, because they want
to get cars off the road at peak times. This
is all can transport the owner, this is their goal.
They say, if you go off peak, it's half priced.
Why can't you do more journeys at nights and weekends?

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, look, in transport operators would love to operate more
off peak, and it's easier time to operate, there's less traffic.
Obviously it's more efficient. But there's actually a couple of
key impediments to that happening, and one is a around
the areas where all of these goods are being delivered,
the distribution centers, etc. There are often covenants from the

(03:06):
council about noise, so trucks noise abatements so trucks can't
drive down roads after particular hours at night. The other is,
actually we don't have the workforce set up. Walkland still
a relatively small city. We're not big enough to move
to a twenty four hour city model where you've got
twenty four hour distribution centers running because we just simply
don't have the workforce. We don't have enough people who

(03:27):
are prepared to work those hours. So there's real structural
limitations here. So getting up the price to get that
shift is ultimately going to bang into those limitations.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Justin appreciate your time. Justin Timber's a chief executive National
Road Carriers Association.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
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