National Freight Demands Study - Ministry of Transport

National Freight Demands Study
1.5 Structure of the report
Following on from the introduction to the freight sector in Section 1, Section 2 of this
report sets out the general approach used in the study. Section 3, which forms a major
component of the work, discusses the current patterns of movement for each of the 17
commodities identified for detailed analysis, and in effect provides a bottom-up analysis
of the freight sector in the country. The estimates that result from this bottom-up
analysis are then compared in Section 4 with alternative top down estimates of the size
of the freight sector, and the section also includes a review of the modal splits within the
freight sector in the year ending June 2007.
Section 5 deals with issues associated with infrastructural and sectoral development,
Section 6 deals with other identified constraints and Section 7 reviews the main trends
emerging in freight handling and logistics in the country. The key drivers of freight mode
choice are set out in Section 8. Section 9, another core section deals with the forecasts
of the growth of the freight movements associated with each of the main sectors
identified and considers modal split and regional growth issues. Section 10 concludes by
considering possible further steps to understand the freight sector in New Zealand and
progress its development.
1.6 Agency changes
In the course of the study, there have been a number of changes in the agencies with
interests in the sector. In particular, Transit New Zealand and Land Transport New
Zealand have been combined into the NZ Transport Agency, and the government has
acquired most of the railway assets held by Toll NZ and has transferred these to KiwiRail.
Where these agencies supplied information or published reports before these changes,
these are attributed to the name of the agency at the time of supply or publication. In
particular all the statistical information on the railways was provided by Toll NZ before
the purchase of the rail assets by the government and is therefore attributed accordingly,
but there have been subsequent discussions on its interpretation with KiwiRail.
1.7 Acknowledgements
In undertaking this study we would like to acknowledge the assistance we have received
from almost all those we have approached with interests in the freight sector in New
Zealand. The lack of reliable statistical information on which to base the planning of the
sector is widely recognised as a major deficiency and there was widespread support for
work which aimed to address this shortage. We would particularly like to thank those
organisations who were able to respond to our questionnaire and supplementary
questions in detail including road, rail and coastal shipping operators, producers,
manufacturers and retailers, courier companies and those responsible for the provision of
infrastructure, including particularly roads, railways and ports. We acknowledge the
effort and resources that this must have involved.
The list of those interviewed as part of the study is set out in Appendix A.
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