Call for greater focus on coastal shipping

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MEDIA RELEASE – For immediate release

03 September 2015

Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders call for greater focus on coastal shipping

The government needs to look again at integrating road, rail and coastal shipping says Glenn Coldham, President of the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation (CBAFF).

Mr Coldham said that calls by the New Zealand Shipping Federation for the government to stop ‘ignoring’ New Zealand’s shipping infrastructure and recognise it as a strategic national asset, had highlighted a significant issue.

“Coastal shipping should not be ignored, given the high number of international ports we currently have in New Zealand,” said Mr Coldham.

“As New Zealand becomes less attractive to import vessels from overseas, we need to ensure our infrastructure is geared to ensuring our import and export cargo has a regular and consistent network to support that trade, and to keep the New Zealand international supply chain competitive and lean.

“An opportunity exists to rationalise and use such coastal services as feeders for full container load (FCL) exports from potential non international ports in the future, to those ports that service international ships.

“This again highlights a need to ensure road, rail and coastal shipping be considered as an integrated supply chain, and to minimise barriers to keeping costs down in the transport network while maintaining surety of supply.”

ENDS

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