Auckland Port's future: study chair tackles Goff criticism

Friday, 4 October 2019

The chair of the working group proposing an end to Auckland's port says the city's mayor should not be focussing just on the details of the plan.

Wayne Brown said the economic analysis supporting a move of port operations to Marsden Point had not quantified many of the economic upsides of transforming Auckland's waterfront.

Brown also said Mayor Phil Goff was wrong in saying the group had not been in contact this year, as the review of the upper North Island ports was underway.

'It's simply not true, we went up to his place for a formal meeting on the 20th of June,' Brown told Stuff.

* Northland cheers proposal to shift Auckland port to Northport: 'We're ready'

* Auckland port move: Study favours $10b plan to shift hub to Northport at Marsden Point

* Auckland Council digs in over a possible port move **

The almost-completed review was provided for in the coalition agreement which New Zealand First negotiated with Labour in 2017, but the Government is not committed to implementation.

Goff has been critical of the lack of detail in the penultimate report by the independent working group, which is due to present its final report to the Government in the coming month or so.

He also said the question of what would happen to Auckland Council's ownership of a company he said was 'conservatively valued at $600 million' had not been addressed.

Brown said the increased value to Auckland of not having a port on the waterfront would be the benefit, with land values expected to rise at and near the port area.

'You don't get compensated when you improve your returns - he's clearly failed Economics 101,' said Brown.

The economic analysis by EY said the council would be better off to the tune of $48m annually from rates and rent generated by a redeveloped waterfront, but was silent on the timing of the revenue flow.

Goff has disputed the numbers as 'not robust'.

Brown described some of Goff's concerns as 'details' compared with the scale of benefits for Auckland.

'If it doesn't make sense in the big picture, then don't do it,' he said.

The Auckland mayor has also questioned the $9.5 billion price tag put on costs that would still be incurred if the three ports at Tauranga, Auckland and Marsden Point, continued as they are.

EY priced the additional cost of pursuing the full move to Northport at $787m, over the cost of continuing with the status quo.

Part of the economic analysis of the status quo 'base case' lists an estimated $6.5b of major roading and transport projects scheduled to occur in Auckland, the Waikato and Northland over the next 30 years.

The question of how many jobs might be lost or created from the shift is too hard to pick, according to the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA)

'It's really tricky - part of it is timing, when is this going to happen, and for example in a shift to electric vehicles, will we need the same number in future years?' said Brett O'Riley, the chief executive.

EY's economic analysis suggested 2000 long-term jobs could be created in Northland, yet a 2017 report by consultants NZIER thought 10,000 Auckland jobs could be lost if the vehicle import trade alone, moved north.

O'Riley said the other variable - also highlighted in the report - was that shipping lines decided where they would call, and simply building a bigger port at Northport, would not necessarily stop lines opting to move to Tauranga.