Connecting New Zealand – Maritime transport
Last updated on
31/01/2012 11:46 a.m.
Decisions around the role and number of ports in New Zealand will continue to be made by port owners operating in a commercial environment.
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The maritime sector is largely led by the private sector, although a number of local authorities have an ownership interest in their local ports, and these arrangements are likely continue.
The government will be focusing on improving public information on maritime and freight transport, including research into freight transport futures, to support more informed decision making. The government is also focusing on the productivity of New Zealand sea ports, with a view to how this can be improved.
Our sea ports are responsible for moving more than 46 million tonnes of exports (99 percent by weight of all exports) and imports, with a combined value of more than $66 billion each year (Figures 22 and 23).
Initial work in this area includes the Freight Information Gathering System, which will produce better, more current, information on international and domestic freight flows through New Zealand ports, and the transport modes used for those freight flows. This will help improve future landside investment decisions.
Work is underway to examine the productivity of container movements at the six ports which comprise more than 90 percent of total container volumes in New Zealand. Initial results suggest that New Zealand ports compare well with Australia, but are medium-to-low by world standards.
The new Productivity Commission’s work programme recognises that freight transport costs, including port charges, represent a sizeable proportion of international trading costs for New Zealand firms. The Productivity Commission is evaluating factors influencing the accessibility and efficiency of international freight transport services available to New Zealand firms, and opportunities to increase the accessibility and efficiency of these services.
The government is focused on port productivity issues, improving public information on maritime and freight transport, and improving the safety of the maritime sector. In 2010, Maritime New Zealand undertook a value-for-money review to build a better understanding of its current direction, performance and issues, and to identify some areas for improved future performance and effectiveness.
The review found Maritime New Zealand is a small organisation with a broad range of safety and environmental regulatory responsibilities spread across a diverse maritime sector. Overall, the review concluded that Maritime New Zealand delivers value for money, and identified some areas for improvement.
Maritime New Zealand has developed a programme of work designed to address the change required and reports quarterly on progress. A major project within this programme is the 2011/12 review of Maritime New Zealand funding. The purpose of this review is to ensure that Maritime New Zealand develops a sustainable funding regime that will enable it to deliver on its vision and goals.
The government wants to improve safety, security and protection of the marine environment and is working with the marine community to develop a culture that actively embraces these values. The government is moving away from the current model of highly prescriptive rules to a model that allows standards to be developed and changed more rapidly with input from the related sector.
Changes in technology and industry practice are a constant, and having the flexibility to change standards is a key requirement if the industry is to remain viable. Maritime New Zealand will work cooperatively with industry to ensure seafarer competency standards, vessel and equipment standards, and safe operating practices are appropriately tailored to meet the risks of each sector or operation.
Two key building blocks of the new model are the development of a new seafarer qualifications and operational limits framework, and the introduction of a new maritime operator safety system for operators of domestic commercial vessels.
Seafarer qualifications and operational limits framework
Maritime New Zealand is developing a new seafarer qualifications and operational limits framework that meets the requirements of a modern maritime sector — both now and into the future. Implementation of the new system is due in early 2013. It will make it easier for customers to understand and it will also make it easier for Maritime New Zealand to administer, maximising the use of technology to provide accurate online information and enable quick turnaround times.
The benefits to the sector of the new approach include:
- greater emphasis on competence and proven ability
- greater emphasis on practical and assessment components and recognition of quality of sea services
- reduced number of hours of sea service required for entry-level qualifications
- alignment with international standards to ensure portability of qualifications
Maritime Operator Safety System
A new Maritime Operator Safety System (MOSS) for domestic commercial vessel operators is under development and is expected to be introduced in the first half of 2013. The MOSS will enable Maritime New Zealand to work more closely with domestic commercial maritime operators to achieve safety goals. The new system will be flexible and more responsive to industry change, and will require operators to develop safe operating plans that are relevant for their operation and related to their risks.
The proposed new system will be simpler for operators and will be more transparent about who has responsibility for each part of the system. Surveyors will be responsible and accountable for the issue of fit-for-purpose certificates for vessels, and Maritime New Zealand will be responsible for issuing maritime transport operator certificates and subsequent audits. Operators will be responsible for ensuring their vessels operate in accordance with their approved plans.
New Zealand’s maritime sector operates to internationally-aligned safety standards. The government will continue to implement changes to our transport rules to keep New Zealand requirements aligned with international safety, security and environmental protection standards, where that is appropriate and in New Zealand’s interests. As an island nation that is dependent on foreign flagged vessels to carry our trade, we need to ensure that the safety and marine environment protection standards applied to those vessels are effective.
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