MMH - Marsden Maritime Holdings

[cdonald]

The economics of shifting the port from Auckland to Northland are actually very compelling. Just the savings from shifting all those trucks off Auckland roads and the motorway alone has been estimated to be in the billions of dollars in building new roads and maintaining existing roads, relieving traffic congestion and logistics savings.

Remember that there is already an Auckland inland port in Otahuhu which receives containers and goods by rail and trucks, and trans-ship to other parts of Auckland and North Island - saving hugely on transportation time and cost. Hamilton is looking to build an inland port for precisely the same reason.

Not too difficult to build an upgraded rail link as there is already one in place.

an article on the subject. http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/loca...g-in-whangarei

Might not be overly difficult to get a spur line out to Marsden point but the real issue lies in how to get the freight thru West Auckland. To get the logs off the road a fair amount of work will need to be done on the mothballed line north of Whangarei too so a bit of infrastructure dollars needed. Not saying its a bad idea but if you are going to bring ports of Auckland to Ruakaka its not really an either or decision, both roading and rail are required.

[Balance]

an article on the subject. http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/loca...g-in-whangarei

Might not be overly difficult to get a spur line out to Marsden point but the real issue lies in how to get the freight thru West Auckland. To get the logs off the road a fair amount of work will need to be done on the mothballed line north of Whangarei too so a bit of infrastructure dollars needed. Not saying its a bad idea but if you are going to bring ports of Auckland to Ruakaka its not really an either or decision, both roading and rail are required.

There are no logs exported from Auckland port so trucks will continue to be used to move logs to Northland port from the northern regions (as is the case now).

The issue is really the containers and cars - absolute madness to have the trucks and car carriers congesting Auckland roads and motorways as they currently are, and will continue to do so until the port is relocated.

For me, a rail link system(freight and passenger) to Whangarei should also shift the dynamics of economic growth away from an Auckland bursting at the seams (especially re affordable housing) to the less populated Northland region where land is a plenty but economic growth and opportunities have been limited.

[whatsup]

There are no logs exported from Auckland port so trucks will continue to be used to move logs to Northland port from the northern regions (as is the case now).

The issue is really the containers and cars - absolute madness to have the trucks and car carriers congesting Auckland roads and motorways as they currently are, and will continue to do so until the port is relocated.

For me, a rail link system(freight and passenger) to Whangarei should also shift the dynamics of economic growth away from an Auckland bursting at the seams (especially re affordable housing) to the less populated Northland region where land is a plenty but economic growth and opportunities have been limited.

YEH RIGHT , ship all of Aucklands 972,000 import containers last year to Marsden Point then truck them down to Auckland for distriubution then truck the 972,000 ones for export back up from Auckland to Marsden P , never mind the carbon pollution that double handelling cost forget about the planet all that for how many employees, 150, great business plan and that ontop of the car haulers at one every 6 minutes, as do your sums how many trucks is this on the poor Northland Roads , forget about the traveling public they can move to the S I , its a wonder that Winstone hasn't made that as a bottom line.

[whatsup]

P S , just done the sums, so O K , 60 minutes/hour X 24hrs /day X 6 days / week x 52 weeks = 449,280 ( minutes / year ) .
972,000 containers last year allow for say 5% growth for this year .
972,000 containers divided by 449,280 minutes = that's one container passing through Wellsford every 2 minutes 16 seconds and that is not counting the export containers heading north, or the cars that are imported on car haulers also heading north and south !!!!

[Joshuatree]

Yes very sensible and practical and at minimal cost .

[whatsup]

Yeh right $2,000,000,000 (BILLION) cost for 150 jobs, great business plan Winstone !

[whatsup]

Do you know the state of the rail in northland , 50 years of neglect not to mention the tunnels and the tracks that need to be widened and up graded by whom the N Z govt ( people ) or the Rail Corp.
Read the study that was prepared on this subject 2 years ago !!! dooooooough dumd imo another w@nker winstone decision.

[Brovendell]

Do you know the state of the rail in northland , 50 years of neglect not to mention the tunnels and the tracks that need to be widened and up graded by whom the N Z govt ( people ) or the Rail Corp.
Read the study that was prepared on this subject 2 years ago !!! dooooooough dumd imo another w@nker winstone decision.

Of course you have priced in the estimated $2 billion annual cost that Auckland congestion causes the NZ economy. Of course you have considered that some containers go north from Auckland and vice versa.. Of course you have considered that some containers can also go to Tauranga
Of course you have considered that abusive posts such as yours, cause well- respected posters on this forum to leave, to the detriment of the quality of the forum.

[whatsup]

Where are the real figures the congestion costs the Auckland economy $2 billion per year , that was a throwaway estimate that everyone has been hanging their hats on for years?

[Balance]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/973...icy-would-cost

Of course it is going to cost - just as the waterview tunnel cost $1.6 billion.

NZ and Auckland in particular need to start thinking long term - rather than the usual panic plan and ad hoc implementation of solutions to resolve capacity problems. Best example - housing crisis which has resulted in a land rich region like Auckland pricing a small piece of dirt (380 sq meter) at $1 million?

Just been to China and it is amazing to observe how they can build super infrastructure there - fast, efficient, long distance, quick and with reasonable cost.

Goods (including containers by the squillions) are freighted by train all across this vast country - on new railway lines - and in the future, all over continental Asia and Europe.

How pathetic that in NZ, a relatively short railway line (with land already set aside and basic infrastructure in place) can cause so much angst and howls of outrage. Or are we hearing the desperate anguish cries of vested interests (freight companies, Ports of Auckland executives etc) trying to stop a project which will bring huge long term benefits to Auckland and Northland?