Napier Port: Keeping our region connected to the world

NAPIER PORT EXTENDS ITS CARE and support to everyone affected by the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle. We also want to acknowledge and thank all the individuals, organisations and communities who have worked tirelessly over the last few months to support Hawke’s Bay and its people with the initial response and immediate recovery.

The year ahead for Hawke’s Bay looks drastically different to the one we had before us at the start of 2023.

As we entered the new year, we were encouraged by some early signs of global shipping disruptions and pricing starting to ease and optimistic about the ongoing and resilient demand for our region’s food and fibre exports. Throughout 2022, Napier Port worked hard alongside its customers and partners to deliver the value and solutions the region’s cargo owners need.

Post-Cyclone Gabrielle, our immediate priority was to keep cargo flowing across our wharves. The cyclone highlighted Napier Port’s critical role as a lifeline asset to the wider region. With minimal damage to our own infrastructure and being the only entry point into Napier postcyclone, our teams were immediately able to support the emergency response.

Napier Port became a community base for the ongoing response, including hosting both the NZ Army and Navy vessels, including HMNZS Te Mana and HMNZS Canterbury, as they provided welfare and aid to the communities most in need of help.

BY DAVID KRIEL

Specifically, we provided facilities to the NZ Army on port alongside our korora - /little penguin sanctuary, enabling them to set up a local base and assist with the cyclone response efforts across Hawke’s Bay and Taira - whiti. “Camp Penguin”, as it was affectionately called, was in action through until mid-March when operations wrapped up and the army shifted their crews back down to Linton Military Camp. Their support continued from Palmerston North with weekly missions as and when the National Emergency Management Agency required.

Additionally, Napier Port also supported other lifeline services to re-open by providing electricity generators, and a number of our people joined the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Unit, volunteering in specialist roles including health and safety, human resources, emergency management, and GIS/CAD design helping to map affected areas. Fortunately, the port was able to get back to full operations within a week, and we worked closely with cargo owners to overcome local logistical bottlenecks and ensure they retained access to regional and global markets. The best thing we could do was to keep essential supplies and imports coming into the region and help our exporters get their cargo to market.

Specifically, Napier Port supported Eastland Port in Gisborne to start a three-month coastal shipping service on the East Coast. This partnership saw Napier Port provide ship planning services and use a coastal vessel, the Rangitata, to supply containers to Eastland Port for exporters to load with freight, which was then coastal shipped back to Napier Port for export. This initiative allowed businesses on the East Coast to export products that they were struggling to get to market due to road and rail damage.

For example, we also worked closely with the local councils to restart cruises three weeks after the cyclone. Passengers were welcomed back with a Karakia, given information about the cyclone and offered the opportunity to donate to a regional relief fund.

Our region and growers were certainly suffering in the weeks following the cyclone, but we were heartened to hear stories of resilience from across our primary sector. Napier Port extended its hours of operation in order to help ease congestion on the region’s damaged transport infrastructure and support Hawke’s Bay growers as we moved into the traditional peak season for produce exports. Berth windows for container shipping, previously disrupted by the pandemic, had recently resumed and were able to provide more certainty and regularity around vessel scheduling for importers and exporters.

Additionally, our new Te Whiti wharf (opened in July 2022) had also been delivering benefits prior to the cyclone – unlocking congestion, reducing ship moves inside the port, creating more berth availability for ships, and also reducing the time vessels were spending at anchor waiting to enter Napier Port. Shift movements across the whole port were reduced by almost fifty per cent, resulting in greater efficiencies for our own operations, shipping lines, customers and transport operators.

Tied to these new benefits, we were also very pleased to welcome two new container shipping line services calling to Napier earlier in January this year. The T.S. Lines China and ZIM Australia services have been able to provide greater and more timely options for exporters and importers and help to ensure a competitive market across the wider supply chain.

Cyclone Gabrielle delivered a significant challenge to our supply chain logistics. Napier Port’s logistics team works closely with customers to provide a cost-effective, reliable and efficient supply chain between sites and the port. Because we have visibility of the containerised imports and exports before a vessel arrives, we can optimise the landside network and coordinate landside transport options with customers.

Before Cyclone Gabrielle, our customer base grew with uptake in the central North Island, delivering more volume into the port. We had also recently strengthened our position and investment in the Manawatu - Inland Port resulting in a 50 per cent partnership with the Halls Group (Talley’s Group of companies).

Immediately following the cyclone, there was a modal shift with rail converted into road transport. The Napier Port team has worked closely with our affected customers to develop cargo solutions and ensure minimal disruption to service as the rail network is repaired. The shift of cargo back to rail is happening incrementally (see pic on page 20). Importantly, the main rail line has been restored as far as Hastings; however, the link between Hastings and Napier requires reinstatement and the work is expected to continue through to the end of the year.

Damage to regional road transport infrastructure also limited access to the port across the Hawke’s Bay region for a period of time, adding challenges in particular for parts of the forestry sector. We have been encouraged by the favourable progress of increased road access to and from Napier, but the resilience of our wider infrastructure network has certainly raised a number of challenges that need to be addressed in the longer term.

The forestry industry has since re-established forest-based production, although it has seen some reduction in capacity due to short-term redeployments and some loss of industry transport capacity. Additionally, Pan Pac’s cyclone-impacted operations are expected to be restarted around September/October this year, followed by a gradual ramp-up towards normal production levels.

In terms of our container cargoes, the seasonal crop losses (pip fruit and other fresh produce) and damage to primary processing will see a reduction in container traffic through the port over the coming months. The extent of the potential future reduced output of planted areas, that will require remediation and replanting to restore production, remains uncertain at this stage with all eyes on the next spring blossom. Despite the significant impact of Cyclone Gabrielle and the ongoing challenges we face, Napier Port is confident that our region will rebuild. Demand for its food and fibre exports continues to grow, while our region is a world leader in primary sector innovation and research. With solidarity and respect, we see the efforts by businesses, community organisations, central and local government, neighbours and volunteers, groups of friends and Iwi pitching in to recover and build back together.

We have been proud to join our community and stand beside them in this ongoing effort. Looking ahead, our passionate Napier Port team will continue to prioritise support for our customers, cargo owners and community in the aftermath of the cyclone and remain committed to keep doing everything we can to support our region’s recovery.

David Kriel General Manager – Commercial | M.Prof.Studs. Transport Management (Dist), FCILT

David joined Napier Port as General Manager – Commercial in 2018. David has an extensive background in transport and logistics and worked with Lodestar and Oji Fibre Solutions from 2005 to 2018.David is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. He is a member of the Eastern Asian Society for Transport Studies and the Humanitarian Logistics Association. David sits on the board of the New Zealand Cruise Association as well as the advisory board of ExportNZ Hawke’s Bay.