Parliamentary Inquiry into Ports and Maritime Sector

In July 2025, the Maritime Union of New Zealand made a submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Ports and the Maritime Sector, outlining critical issues and proposing a strategic vision for New Zealand’s maritime freight industry.

The submission highlights serious issues with the current system, including:

• Disorganized Competition: Ports operate as individual, profit-maximising entities, leading to inefficient competition, misallocation of capital (e.g., smaller ports over-investing in infrastructure for large international vessels they rarely attract), and increased costs for freight customers.
• “Open Coast” Policy: This policy allows international vessels to carry cargo between New Zealand ports, undermining local coastal shipping, leading to exploited foreign workers, and making New Zealand strategically vulnerable.
• Market Power of International Shippers: International shipping lines leverage competition between ports to drive down fees while charging high prices to local freight customers, and often demand priority over coastal shipping.
• Uncertainty for Regional Ports: Smaller ports face insecurity due to reliance on a few international lines, making services unreliable and threatening their viability.
• Undermined Transport Planning: The lack of a national strategy hinders effective planning for coastal shipping and rail, leading to over-reliance on more costly and polluting road transport.
• Increased Government Costs/Risks: Having international freight at numerous ports spreads customs and biosecurity resources thin, increasing costs and risks.

To address these issues, MUNZ advocates for a unified New Zealand Ports Strategy centered on a “hub and spoke” model. This model would designate 2-4 main import/export ports (hubs) with regional ports (spokes) feeding goods to and from these hubs via reliable coastal shipping.

The proposed benefits of this strategy include:

• Eliminating Costly Competition: Promoting cooperation between ports for the greater national good.
• Efficient Capital Allocation: Ensuring smart, coordinated investment in port infrastructure.
• Enabling Coastal Shipping: Fostering a healthy domestic coastal fleet, creating local jobs, and enhancing national resilience.
• More Reliable Regional Services: Providing frequent and dependable shipping for smaller ports.
• Improved Transport Planning: Facilitating better integration of coastal shipping and rail, reducing reliance on trucking, and lowering greenhouse emissions.
• Reduced Government Costs: Optimizing customs and biosecurity operations.

The submission argues that a successful Ports Strategy must rule out privatisation of ports and their operations. Privatisation is incompatible with optimising the port network and would lead to worse outcomes for New Zealand businesses and the broader economy.

MUNZ is calling for a planned, cooperative approach led by Government to unlock the full potential of New Zealand’s maritime freight sector, prioritizing national interest over individual port profits and ensuring a resilient, efficient, and locally-focused industry.