In recent times, organisations involved in the movement of containers in and out of New Zealand and domestically have cited a drop in container traffic as a factor in reduced financial performance. The Port of Tauranga, for example, reported a drop of 15.8% in container traffic in 2023. The Port of Napier reported a decline of 17.3%, and KiwiRail 15%. So, what is happening to container traffic in New Zealand?
The concept of using containers for the transport of goods is not new. British Rail pioneered the idea in 1926, with some containers coming into use in New Zealand in 1929. The idea of an international standard container size was developed by the International Standards Organisation (ISO), beginning in 1961, and from this, the standard ISO 20ft container as we know it emerged, a 20ft equivalent unit (TEU).
Freight Information Gathering System (FIGS)
The Ministry of Transport maintains the FIGS system to provide an overview of freight movements throughout New Zealand, including containerised freight, rail freight and bulk coastal freight. The information provided includes data related to the movement of import and export containers, including how they enter and leave a port, those moved internally by KiwiRail and container size, 20ft or 40ft. Forty-foot containers are considered equivalent to two TEUs.
The movement of containers by road is unavailable as this data is not captured.
The data used in the following charts is derived from FIGS.
Import and export container movement
This provides an overview of container movement in and out of New Zealand from 2018 to 2023. It shows the total number of import and export containers, plus their weight, and a total for each year. This chart supports the reduction in container movements talked about recently.
Average weight of import and export containers
This shows the average declared weight of the load carried in each container and suggests an overall reduction in container declared weight since 2018. The average weights are derived from the declared weight of each container included in FIGS.
Empty container movements
This shows that the combined movement of empty containers, import and export, has remained relatively static from 2018 to 2023.
In January 2023, TransportTalk reported that the New Zealand supply chain was grappling with what to do with an estimated 40,000 empty containers awaiting transportation out of the country.
Movement of containers through wharf gates
Annually, there is a certain percentage of containers, about 2%, not recorded in or out of wharf gates. These include containers that may be transhipped to another vessel, moved to a devanning facility within the port, etc.
The data does show a large bias towards movement by road and the decline in rail movements as reported by KiwiRail.
KiwiRail
Data on container movement by KiwiRail is available from FIGS, but it does not include the same information as that for import and export movements. The KiwiRail data does not include the number of container movements, only the total weight moved.
As this movement is entirely internal, it will include container weights also recorded as an import and/or export weights. KiwiRail data should, therefore, be considered separate from import and export data.
Conclusion
The data above supports the contention that container traffic, both import and export, is decreasing. How far this will go is anybody’s guess. Given most container movements in and out of New Zealand ports are by road, the ongoing impact of this decrease on the road transport industry will be reasonably substantial, especially for those operators whose business relies heavily on moving containers.
