Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Win for truckies, loss for coastal shipping

On the face of it, this coastal shipping decision from James Meager seems like an odd one.

It's a win for truckies, like it or not, we're about to get 500 extra trucks filled with 15,000 tonnes of bulk cement on the road each month.

But it's bad for coastal shipping, even though the Minister says it's actually good for coastal shipping.

Let me explain.

There's a cement company that wants to ship its product round the country, but its current ship is old and buggered.

So a new one is coming to the rescue, but in the meantime, they've sorted a temporary ship for three years to fill the gap.

Well, they did. Until the Minister, James Meager (Assoc. Transport) stepped in and said Nah. You can't operate that vessel here because its foreign-flagged ship.

Meager says he's simply following the law.

The vast majority of goods being moved around the country from local ports are on kiwi boats with kiwi crew, making sure we have kiwi jobs etc.

All very well and good.

Except there's apparently no alterative for the cement guys, Holcim, so they're forced to send everything by road for three years.

And here's the bit that's worrying (aside form the fact we're loading the roads up with more heavy trucks that in many places they clearly can't handle).

Holcim reckons this decision will cost it of millions of dollars.

And once you sink that investment into freight by road, there will come a time when returning to shipping becomes unviable.

So the cement stays on the road.

So in this case, three years with kiwi workers missing out may turn into forever.

And that doesn't seem like a very smart decision, especially at a time when we're trying to boost coastal shipping (newsflash: we're long islands surrounded by water) and when we're limping across the cook straight from the next three years without proper ferries.

I would have thought this makes the whole system a bit weak and vulnerable. Would an extra ship at a time like this not be a good idea, no matter where it's come from and who's manning the deck?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the face of it, this coastal shipping decision from
James Mega seems like a bit of an odd one
to me. It's a win for truckies. Like it or not.
We're about to get apparently five hundred extra trucks filled
with fifteen thousand tons of bulk cement on the road
each and every month in this country as a result.
But it's bad for coastal shipping, even though the minister

(00:21):
says it's actually good for coastal shipping. Let me explain.
There's a cement company that wants to ship its product
around the country, but its current ship is old and
buggered basically, so a new one is coming to the rescue.
But in the meantime they've sorted a temporary ship for
three years to fill the gap. Well they did until

(00:41):
the Minister James Megha Associate Transport steps in and says
NAT can't do that. You cannot operate that vessel here
because it's so foreign flagged ship. Mega says he's simply
following the law. You see, the vast majority of goods
being moved around the country from local ports are on
Kiwi boats crew making sure that we have Kiwi jobs

(01:02):
and keep them all very well and good, except there's
apparently no alternative for these cement guys. Wholesome is the outfit,
so they are forced. This is what they say. They
are forced to send everything by road for three years
in the meantime. And here's the bit that's worrying. Aside
from the fact that we're loading the roads up with

(01:23):
more heavy trucks that in many places they clearly can't
handle wholesome reckons, this decision will cost it millions of dollars.
And once you sink that investment into freight by road,
there will come a time, they say, when returning to
shipping becomes unviable, so the cement stays on the road.

(01:44):
So in this case, three years with no Kiwi workers
on some boats missing out may turn into forever. And
that doesn't seem like a very smart decision to me,
especially at a time when we're trying to boost coastal shipping,
because newsflash, where long islands surrounded by water with bad roads,
and when we're basically limping across the Cook Strait for

(02:07):
the next three years without proper fairies. I mean, you
could do better on a kayak. Frankly, so I would
have thought, this makes the whole system a bit weak
and vulnerable. Would an extra ship at a time like
this not be a good idea, no matter where it
comes from and who's manning the decks. For more from
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(02:28):
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