New Zealand Ports Form Strategic Alliance

New Zealand’s Ports of Auckland Limited and Napier Port have formed a strategic alliance which they believe will provide operational, economic, sustainability and community benefits.

“Ports of Auckland and Napier Port are the gateways to two of the largest North Island provincial economies with significant growth and demands on infrastructure,” says Ports of Auckland Chief Executive, Tony Gibson.

The partnership will allow Napier and Auckland to work together to find ways to optimize services for freight customers and achieve further scale and efficiencies in the supply chain. It will prompt even greater competitive contestability and resilience in New Zealand’s supply chain to help lower costs to exporters and importers, says Gibson.

Napier Port Chief Executive, Garth Cowie, says the alliance also creates an opportunity to collaborate, share best practice and innovate in technology, health and safety and sustainability practices, areas where both ports are seeking to advance further.

“Napier Port’s vision is to be Central New Zealand’s leading provider of port and logistics solutions. This alliance fits with the natural flow of freight in the North Island, based on ports close to demand centers and Auckland’s weighting towards imports and our strong export base.”

The strategic alliance builds on Napier Port and Ports of Auckland’s existing joint venture in Palmerston North’s Longburn regional freight hub and will support Ports of Auckland’s regional freight hub network strategy to manage the growing freight market. This strategy helps to balance freight flows, provides exporters with choice, improves access to overseas markets and reduces exporters’ costs due to supply chain efficiencies.

The development complements the Matariki – Hawke’s Bay Economic Development Strategy $25 million Government package announced last week to support road access improvements to Napier Port.