Sherelle Kennelly: NZ Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation CEO on the lack of efficiency in our ports and supply chains

There’s a call to completely reset our supply chains.  

The Cargo Owners Council says there's been a 30% drop in productivity since 2019. 

Chair Brent Flavey says New Zealand is in the bottom 20% for port efficiency, and we aren’t keeping up with the rest of the world. 

NZ Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation CEO Sherelle Kennelly told Kerre Woodham without some hard conversations, we aren’t going to get to a point where we can support our export goals going forward. 

She says if we don’t improve our efficiencies, New Zealand won’t be able to meet the global market. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerrywood and Morning's podcast from News
Talk sad B.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
As we've been discussing port inefficiencies could undermine New Zealand's
goals to double export earnings. The Cargo Owners Council says
there's been a thirty percent drop in productivity since twenty nineteen.
Chair Brent Falvey says there needs to be a comprehensive
reset of our ports and a strategy for the whole
supply chain. Cherrell Kennelly is the CEO of the New

(00:33):
Zealand Custom Brokers and Freight Forwards Federation. She joins me, now,
excuse me, She joins me, now, very good morning to you.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Good morning Carrie.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Where do you believe the supply chain needs to be
improved or do we need a complete reset?

Speaker 3 (00:51):
I agree that we need a complete reset. We everyone's
talking about it, but we're not actually getting everyone in
the room and sitting down and going how do we
fix this? So it would be great if we if
we could do that and have some conversations and hard
conversations about how we fix it, because we're just not

(01:12):
going to get to the point where we can support
our export goals going forward.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
I mean, looking at the issues around our ports, it
seems laughable that we want to double our exports within
that time frame. I mean, it's just not possible. We're
going to if we're going to price ourselves out of
the global market, how do we do that.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Well, we can't afford to not do it. Carry So
you know, New Zealand's at the bottom of the world
and if we don't improve our efficiencies and turn around
on vessels and also vessels arriving on time, we're just
not going to be able to meet that global market.
And you know, New Zealand's a small country and we

(02:00):
need it to support our goals. We need to do
some hard decisions about moving forward. And it's not just
purely the ports. It is a supply chain. You know,
it's moving freight around New Zealand, it's getting vessels here
on time, it's departing on time, it's having capacity and

(02:20):
equipment to move forward. So we really, you know, we
really just need to put our own agendas aside and
support the longer term goals of everything we need, including
infrastructure and what that looks like.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Submitters to the Select Committee around this said we need
a smaller number of main ports which would serve as
the main ports call for the larger international vessels. Some
say two, some say three. But I had a text
to saying, well, the reason we've got so many ports
is that it costs so much to move freight around internally,

(02:56):
and that you know, it's going to cost so much
to send it to Lyttleton as opposed to Timaru.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Absolutely, so we have the three main ports the North Island,
so Auckland, Twonga and Wellington not so much for containerized
fred but then getting freight to the South Island is
really tricky and we forget about the South Island in
some respects. So you know, I think we just need
to get a clean piece of paper and map it

(03:25):
out and have these discussions of how we can improve
and going forward.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
We haven't got time, you know. According to you know,
those who are making the submissions, there's a five year
window of opportunity to increase productivity and make us a
player again. Others say it's too late, that already there
are shipping lines that are ignoring New Zealand and just
coming out of Australia. Would it make sense for us

(03:52):
to be a feeder port to the main Australian ports.
Would that improve the efficiency perhaps and the costs?

Speaker 3 (04:02):
I mean, it could do. It's not my or ever
expertise on autunately, so I don't want to comment further
on that, but you know I have these conversations what
does that look like? What does that you know? Can
we explore that option? Are the are we looking at
international ports and what they're doing. If you look at
some of the major ports in international there are years

(04:25):
ahead of us, so we need to, you know, learn
from what they've learned and some of them could be
quick wins. We just don't know. But some of the
red tape issues about you know, getting approvals to expand
and do things have also hindering as well. So it's
not just purely on the ports themselves, it's it's other

(04:48):
initiatives that we need to focus more on to get
it right.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
What is the main issue that your members are facing
right now?

Speaker 3 (04:58):
The manager we have is accessibility, in particular for Auckland.
Auckland's located in a very prime spot in Auckland, but
it's very hard to get to so you know, they
struggle with getting time slots to get freight off and
on the wharf. The feeder service from Tawanga through to

(05:20):
the inland ports. It's great, but if the rail's down,
it's not so great. So that's predominantly the main things
that we see, but vessels arriving in data as well.
You know, an ETA on a vessel may change, but
there's a little bit of technology breakdown in understanding what
that looks like.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
So would you want to see the internal freight structure
improved before we look at the ports? Do it all together?

Speaker 3 (05:55):
Well, it's a combination. It's a combination of both. It's
supply chain, so you can't have an efficient port and
then you can't move freight. They've got old fairy story.
You know, they're railing through New Zealand. We can't move
containerized straight on fairry vessels going forward, so it's you know,

(06:17):
it's a pretty big picture. And also New Zealand's roads
don't allow for like bigger trucking and things like that
because they're just not at that level. So it is
a bigger infrastructure picture as well.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
How much is are the costs adding to your to
your members? How much how much more is it costing
them in recent years?

Speaker 3 (06:45):
I couldn't tell you the exact figure, but the cost
generally will go to the importer and the exporter.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah, consumers are the ones that do pay for any
additional costs or movements and things. You're right.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
I mean, we can't afford not to, but I don't
see how we can in time. I just don't.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Potentially it's just a night. But if we don't, we
New Zealand Inc. Is just you know, it's just not
going to be strong in the marketplace.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
No, it's not. Cherrelle. Thank you, Charrell Cannell, e CEO
New Zealand Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
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