All “Sea transport” topics

What recent transport investigations reveal about safety culture

Over the past 18 months, TAIC has published or opened investigations involving runaway wagons at a port, two ferry groundings, a foreign ship that lost power twice in New Zealand waters, and a near miss between a freight train and track workers in Dunedin. Taken individually, each is a safety incident with its own circumstances. The pattern they form together is worth examining: not what went wrong in each case, but the conditions that allowed it to.

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Expanding efficiencies leads to increased volume with fewer ships

South Port New Zealand (South Port) has marked a significant milestone with its recent half-year financial results, reflecting a period of operational improvements and enhanced efficiency. The port, which serves as a crucial hub for southern New Zealand’s logistics and transport network, has successfully increased the volume of cargo handled while operating with fewer container vessel calls.

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Cook Strait ferries face important challenges in the replacement process

The Cook Strait, a vital maritime link between New Zealand’s North and South Islands, has long been served by ferries that transport passengers, vehicles, and freight. Over the years, the Government has undertaken various initiatives to modernise this essential service, addressing challenges related to aging vessels and infrastructure. But recent attempts to address this particular piece in the country’s supply chain have gone awry, causing headaches for the Coalition Government.

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Keeping goods moving between the Islands

Freight moves very efficiently to ensure that goods are available when and where they are needed. However, a major Hikurangi Subduction Zone earthquake and tsunami taking out the Cook Strait ferry terminals for an extended period would bring immediate chaos to the movement of goods between the North and the South Islands.

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World’s first maritime megawatt charging system in City of Sails

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.

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Sailing through global shipping changes

Shipping costs are on the decline, offering respite to importers and exporters in a landscape marked by persistent and far-reaching inflation. It’s some of the first good news since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, when officials threw everything at the crisis.

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Understanding South Island freight challenges

Freight has been a prominent agenda item for South Island regional councillors in recent months. Supply chain disruptions and the recent government direction to reduce transport-sector greenhouse gas emissions have heightened interest in the topic.

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On the road again

How did New Zealand’s transport modes fare during the lockdown period, and how are they recovering post Covid-19? How did they adapt to the requirements for social distancing and contactless payments? What innovations did they introduce and what role did technology play? CILT NZ spoke to a number of organisations and operators across the modes – air, sea, road and rail – to find out.

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