Sea

International shipping carries the vast majority of New Zealand's import and export goods and the cruise industry plays an increasing role in our tourism market. With sea freight accounting for 99.5 percent of our exports and 99.4 percent of imports, New Zealand is economically dependent on quality, timely, safe and cost effective international shipping services.

These services in turn rely on efficient and competitive sea ports as the critical nodes that represent the land-sea interface, or gateways, for both our exports and imports. Our port sector needs to be able to anticipate and respond to changing shipping patterns, vessle capacity, advances in freight handling technology and predicted future freight demands.

Domestically, shipping is also a part of our transport system for bulk commodities and inter-island ferry services and could potentially play a much bigger role.

An effective and productive coastal shipping sector relies on a sufficiently skilled and experienced workforce. Globally these skills and experience are in short supply. New Zealand must ensure that it has the best regulatory framework possible to support the sector to attract, train and qualify the necessary personnel for shipping and freight related occupations.

International shipping is governed by the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).  As a signatory to the Convention, New Zealand has very clear obligations including being bound to have a comprehensive set of safety and security regulations based on the principles prescribed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Non-compliance with these obligations risks exclusion or restriction on operating in the international maritime system and the consequential economic impact on trade, travel and tourism.

Inadequate safety regulation risks inconsistent standards and consequential damage to the reputation of the industry, tourism and the country itself. Equally, operators need to have a level of assurance that the reputation and viability of their businesses are not going to be adversely affected by the actions of operators that do not establish and maintain accepted levels of safety.