Shipments to and from Australia and New Zealand are increasing, even though exports from those countries still lag far behind imports.

Strength in Numbers

An indication of the greater volumes involved is the recent vessel-sharing agreement among Australia-New Zealand Direct Line (ANZDL), Columbus Line, Fesco, and P&O Nedlloud. According to the terms of this agreement, the companies will all share space on their ships. The deal, which has received regulatory approval in both Australia and North America, was created to streamline the carriers’ operations and provide more services to their customers.

Says Andrea Bolch, ANZDL’s senior vice president, North America, the main advantages for shippers are more vessels and more scheduling options. “It is also allowing for major improvements in transit times, such as a four-day savings to Australian ports,” she says. “This should help shippers better manage their supply chains in a difficult market environment.”

The South American Connection

ANZDL’s new service between Australia-New Zealand and South America is another indication of greater shipping volumes to and from Oceania. US companies with operations in Chile and Peru could find opportunities for more scheduling options here, too. Targeted commodities are dry fish meal, machinery, timber, wine, chemicals, and fertilizer.ANZDL is working with its sister company, Americana Ships, to pull this one off.

Transit time with this service to Auckland, New Zealand, from Callao, Peru, is 35 days, and 40 days from Callao to Melbourne, Australia. Americana Ships vessels will load ANZDL cargo at the ports of Callao, Peru, and San Antonio, Chile, then will call the Port of Manzanillo, where the cargo will be transloaded onto one of ANZDL’s Australasian-bound vessels.

Auckland Beefs up Facilities

The Ports of Auckland has been adding cargo-handling equipment and other services to accommodate its increased shipping volumes. Containers account for two-thirds of the volume at Auckland. Imported vehicles—close to 150,000 a year—make up most of the remainder.

Recent purchases include a new mobile harbor crane, nine new straddle carriers, and a new on-wharf decontamination facility. Three new tugs have also been ordered. Two of them will be going into service at Auckland, and one at the Marsden tanker terminal.

Scheduled improvements include extending the Axis Fergusson container terminal, which will add a 320-meter berth and reclaim 9.6 hectares of back-up container-handling area. This seven-year project, begun in 2000, will increase Axis Fergusson’s capacity from 320,000 to 530,000 containers per year.

Good news for shippers is that a restructuring of the Ports of Auckland method of handling cargo has resulted in somewhat lower costs.

Australia Intermodal Improvements

Australia has long suffered from an inadequate intermodal rail infrastructure. According to the Australiasian Railway Association, the country’s interstate rail corridors are generally well below “world’s best practice.” The only two corridors that are close to world’s best operating standard are the Adelaide to Perth and the Adelaide to Alice Springs corridors. The interstate situation is being remedied by increased federal government aid to rebuild and restructure railbeds, tunnels, and crossings.

Seaports, however, are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to facilities closer to “home.” For example, rail operators and road and port operators are forming strong alliances to improve intermodal operations to reduce port congestion.

One such project involves FreightCorp’s PortLink service at the Port of Sydney, along with similar services provided by Patrick Rail, National Rail Corporation, and Laclan Valley Railway. PortLink is the port’s major container shuttle service. According to the ARA, “The rail shuttles enable containers to be collected and distributed more quickly than by going to the port, keeping trucks out of the peripheral CBD area and reducing costs to users by avoiding port congestion.”

At the Port of Adelaide, congestion has been reduced by hauling Western Mining containers across the port to the Sealand export container terminal at Outer Harbor. This service has reduced road congestion and traffic accidents by eliminating from the port 100 semis a week.

Ports of Auckland Spur Intermodal Ops

The ports of Auckland have entered into a NZ$5 million, 15-year agreement with Tranz Rail, which calls for the Ports to purchase a train from the rail company and pay an annual fee for access to its tracks to run an intermodal rail service from Auckland and Palmerston North.

The service will allow export containers from the central and lower North Island to be shipped from Auckland and “will significantly reduce the total cost of transporting export containers to world markets and for import containers destined for the lower North Island,” says Ports of Auckland chief executive Geoff Vazey. wt