Clayton Mitchell New Zealand First MP

I recently completed a two-day placement at the Ports of Auckland through the Business Parliamentary Trust, which is an organisation that works to foster goodwill and understanding between Parliament and the Business community.

This placement allowed me to work alongside the Port's incredible staff while observing the inner workings of how the Port operates. My time at the Port was enjoyable and left a very positive impression. The Port of Auckland is an extremely productive and efficient operation, especially for having such a small land area and footprint.

Primary port operations will inevitably begin to move elsewhere in the coming years. However, there will always be a need for a port in Auckland. A small holding in Auckland must continue to ensure the efficient supply of essential goods, such as fuel to New Zealand's largest market.

The Port's transition to Northport will not be overnight. It will be an incremental move that will require the development of new systems and infrastructure. Whangarei is about as far away that you can get from the rest of the country. Therefore, sharing the freight load between Tauranga and Northport would be a sensible and pragmatic solution. We need to think seriously about strategies that will maintain connectivity throughout NZ and enable the efficient movement of goods up and down the length of our country. The best solution will be the establishment of a blue highway. Our coastal shipping fleet is now a small fraction of the size that it once was, and it desperately needs to be expanded. For this to happen, the Government needs to put regulations in place that will allow for investment into the expansion of our coastal fleet.