Connecting New Zealand – New Zealand’s place in the world

As a trading nation that is far away from our international markets, New Zealand, and our exporting businesses, need an efficient transport system.

Most New Zealanders want to live in a country where rates of employment are high and living standards are improving. We need to build a strong, growing competitive economy to achieve those aspirations. Vital to this is our connection with international markets and inbound tourism. Our domestic transport system is part of the greater international supply chain, so we need to think globally to deliver a transport system that helps our exporters to compete.

Geographically, New Zealand is further from the economic centres of the world than any other developed country. Our trading partners have become much more diversified over the last few decades (Figure 1).

Transport costs are significant for our exporters. A survey of six key exporters indicated that they consume almost five percent of total turnover (four percent is due to the international transport component). To reduce that cost, we need to be constantly searching for ways to achieve efficiencies across and between the transport modes. The shape of our country and the nature of our population means that our transport infrastructure is expensive to build, operate and maintain compared to manyother countries. To account for these issues, it is essential that our air and sea ports are well connected to our road and rail networks.

With the global economy emerging from the recession, there is potential for new markets to open up in East Asia and South America. It is essential that New Zealand is in the best possible position to capitalise on these new opportunities.

As a country we have limited financial resources. It is critical that we continue to invest wisely in our transport infrastructure to drive the lift in productivity and competitiveness that New Zealand needs.

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