March 2024 articles

The government’s new transport strategy encompasses a broad pipeline of work, focusing on both immediate improvements and long-term developments. It shifts the focus for transport investment from three-year short-term thinking to a more ambitious and aspirational 10-year framework. This will help to give certainty and stability to delivery partners both in the local government and construction sectors.

Investing in regions helps reduce disparities, creates jobs, improves living standards, strengthens social cohesion, empowers local communities and solutions to problems, promotes responsible resource management, improves resilience, and ultimately enhances the economy. New Zealand’s long-standing infrastructure deficit means regions face challenges with access to capital. Establishing the $1.2b Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) as part of the Coalition Agreement of the new government will help address this.

Doppelmayr New Zealand has taken the next step in its ambition to enter New Zealand’s public transport market through the release of its Urban Transport Solutions Report, which makes the case for urban cable car solutions in Aotearoa. The Report shares the findings of an independent strategic level analysis by transport planning and engineering specialists Abley, which identified 20 locations around the country where there is a case for an urban aerial cable car.

The Abley report is (to the best of our knowledge) the first-ever comprehensive attempt to assess the scope, at a pre-feasibility level, for cable cars as a mode of public transport in NZ’s main urban areas

The ongoing maintenance and management of major infrastructure assets in New Zealand is on a downward spiral and will create major issues for NZ Inc in the coming years. That’s the key message from Āpōpō, the industry-leading association for asset management professionals in New Zealand.

In Australia, the Heavy Vehicle National Law provides for heavy penalties for actors in the road freight industry for safety offences. The key point of difference from usual road laws is that they are aimed at all participants in the decisions that led to a safety incident, including those outside the transport sector. Thus all actors from sender to receiver are covered, in what is known as the “chain of responsibility”.

The new draft Government Position Statement on Land Transport (GPS) has been released for consultation, replacing the previous Government’s draft version, and proposes some big changes.

ABB Ability (ABB) is set to deliver the maritime industry’s first megawatt charging system (MCS) for electric and hybrid ferries of Auckland Transport (AT). Designed to recharge electric ferries using the identical interface found in trucks and aeroplanes the shore-to-ship charging system will substantially diminish market entry obstacles for electric ships and amplify the competitiveness of electric vessels in comparison to their fossil-fuel counterparts.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown answers Logistics & Transport NZ’s questions.