Editorial: Ports overdue for reform

OPINION: Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws just revels in controversy. Often it is of the inconsequential kind, but he and his council are embroiled in a genuine and longer-running issue with national implications. They want to regain control of the city's port.

Mr Laws contends that operating company River City Port is "directly blocking investment" and "deliberately jeopardising existing jobs", something general manager Ray Lambert disputes. But the council expects National's local MP, Chester Borrows, to introduce the Wanganui District Council (Port and Harbour) Bill to Parliament before Christmas to achieve its aim.

In fact, if change is to happen in Wanganui, it needs to be as part of a broader initiative: port reform is overdue. Thirteen New Zealand ports handle international trade; some industry observers say that is six too many.

At Port of Tauranga's recent annual meeting, for example, chairman John Parker repeated his oft-stated belief that port rationalisation is critical, partly because of the growth in containerised shipbuilding worldwide and predictions that the existing surplus in container ships will double. He agrees New Zealand has too many commercial ports, saying many are being subsidised – "in some cases very heavily" – by long-suffering ratepayers.

And if these ratepayers are aware of the political rather than commercial imperatives that drive their particular port company, Mr Parker says, they feel powerless to intervene.

Port company willingness to modernise their cranes and other infrastructure is being influenced, of course, by the hard bargains driven by major ship operators – chiefly Maersk – and some councils' grim determination that their port must have all the bells and whistles so it can become one of what Mr Parker expects will be only two New Zealand "hub" ports dealing with the vast bulk of the export and import container trade.

His comments raise questions that the owners of CentrePort – ratepayers of Greater Wellington regional council and its Manawatu equivalent – should hope their stewards have good answers for. Is, in fact, CentrePort truly still a port company? Or is it now principally a property company competing with owners of land and buildings on the golden mile? Does it seriously harbour hopes of becoming one of Mr Parker's two "hub" ports, which will soon have to be able to manage bigger container ships than New Zealand has ever seen, have economic volumes of cargo, and the hectares of land needed to house it?

Just what are its plans for future port-related growth, given the almost total disappearance of manufacturing in the region? Can exporting logs really pay the port's owner-ratepayers the kind of return they are entitled to expect on their investment?

How does it propose to overcome the challenge of trucking containerised cargo to the port? Would it serve its owners' interests better were it to merge with another port?

Infrastructure Minister Bill English and Transport Minister Steven Joyce say they are doing their best to manage the economy out of the recession. Improving the efficiency of a plethora of ports – including the tiddler in Wanganui – would be a useful part of that exercise.

- © Fairfax NZ News