The Friday Blog, with Dom Kalasih
Last week I said I’d share more about our view on fuel supply resilience given the closing down of the refinery at Marsden Point.
Our view is there is a good case that we should be more confident about supplies, not less, and we will get the fuel we need when we need it.
Many people that have raised concerns seem to be unaware that we were already reliant on overseas imports with about one third of our supply coming from Asia and Oceania.
Even more importantly, the refinery ultimately closed because the cost of the fuel it produced was not competitive with larger overseas refineries, mainly due to economies of scale. It’s hard to be competitive in an activity like refining when others have ten times the throughput.
Of the fuel that was produced there, that was done at a single point and then transferred to Auckland via pipeline and distributed to the rest of the country via coastal shipping to bulk storage at most ports. Now the fuel comes directly from the overseas refinery to the port where the demand is required. The higher frequency of deliveries means greater flexibility and ability to respond to changes in demand.
In terms of concerns that NZ could lose access to the refineries it is currently using, bear in mind we use about 0.8 percent of global finished product demand or 3 percent of the Asia Oceania market. If issues arose with the current refineries there are plenty of alternatives.
I agree that the approach of NZ making other fuels, such as biofuels, is desirable and it is a nice idea. The problem – and the market demonstrates this – is that it is currently neither feasible nor viable. Transport of the feedstock for the fuel is also highly likely to be a factor so rather than limit or designate an area like Marsden to be for fuel production, we believe the location of any future production should be left to be determined by the market.
All in all, we’re better off than we were and I think the Coalition Government needs to move on to matters of higher priority that will make a meaningful difference.
A diverse industry
One thing that really stuck out for me this week in terms of issues I saw and the people I dealt with was the diversity we see across our industry.
I met with key partners NZI and TR Group and we spoke about the challenges of the economic downturn.
On the plus side, less heavy travel results in less risk exposure so insurance claims are down, which is good.
On the other hand, the reduced demand for transport mean more rental trucks are parked up. What I most admired about TR’s approach was that despite the economic challenges, they were proudly showing us the latest dual-fuel trucks. I think it speaks volumes about industry leadership that despite the chips being down, TR is not talking its foot off the throttle in terms of decarbonising the fleet.
Regional issues
In terms of regional activities, in Christchurch we are continuing to work to ensure that there are minimal adverse effects on the public from the commercial weight bridge in Rolleston.
In the Horowhenua we’re supporting a member which has had their property accessway damaged during a NZTA roading project to ensure that gets repaired.
In the Hawke’s Bay we’re trying to change a flawed intersection design which sees truck-trailer combinations at risk of being struck by rail crossing barrier arms while waiting at a Give Way control.
Last week at our industry meeting in Hawera we heard that the road information that was meant to communicate the concessions we’d won allowing trucks and combinations less than 30 tonne to continue using the Saddle Road was incorrect so we went and took a look on our journey home. We’d also been asked by NZTA to be on the lookout for temporary traffic management at sites which we thought weren’t up to scratch.
Traffic management issues
We saw some good stuff, but we were disappointed with other examples which included:
Drivers needing information about the Saddle Road detour approach it from three routes. Two of the three of those had incorrect information posted and the on
e point that did have a VMS advising on the detour was placed too far downstream on the route so by the time drivers got the message, it was too late and they’d have to turn back. We got hold of NZTA so they could rectify it but it does show there are still plenty of opportunities for improvement.
In terms of TMPs, a couple that stood out included the 4 speed limit signs, and another temporary speed restriction which appeared to be related to works around a fixed speed camera which seemed to me to be completely unnecessary.
I appreciate it will take time for NZTA to shift its roading contractors to take a more risk-based approach, which is the intent of changing from COPTMM to the NZ Guide for TTM. But I’d also contend that the case of having different speed signs is more about common sense and paying attention. Given what Lindsay and I saw on our trip, it’s difficult to say if there is much improvement but its good that NZTA is starting to focus on improvements to the delivery of temporary traffic management.
Survey gets an added bonus!
The National Road Freight Survey is going great guns and this week Bridgestone donated a $500 voucher for one of the people replying during March.
The information from industry personnel will give us plenty of hard data to work with which is vitally important in this time of technical change and changing customer demands.
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Transporting New Zealand interim Chief Executive
