NZTD News

National road freight association Transporting New Zealand says that consumers and businesses can expect continued upward pressure on freight costs, as Port of Auckland emphasised its commitment to port access charge increases at an industry update today.

Road freight companies and their customers currently pay Port of Auckland a fee of $130 per container at peak times (between 5am and 6pm) that will increase to $180 in 2026. Port of Auckland has indicated that this fee will rise to $350 by January 2027. Port of Auckla...

Road freight association Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand is welcoming the announcement from the government confirming which drugs will be tested under the new roadside drug testing regime, which is to be gradually rolled out across New Zealand from this December.

The four drugs being screened are THC (cannabis), methamphetamine (meth), MDMA (ecstasy) and cocaine.

“The introduction of robust roadside drug testing is long overdue, with several other countries having already introduced this,” says Transport...

The Light Traffic Index (LTI) rose 0.2% in October and is 3.2% higher than a year ago, with annual growth increasing rapidly. The more volatile Heavy Traffic Index (HTI) eased 0.2% in the month, but is still up 0.6% y/y.

Light traffic (motorbikes, cars and vans) is generally a good indicator of the state of demand, as opposed to production. It typically provides up to a six-month lead on momentum in the economy, with variation reflecting discretionary spending on outings, movement of couriers and tradespeople etc. The ...

This week I had the pleasure of attending an Auckland Business Chamber breakfast event on “under-pressure infrastructure”.  Something we have heard a lot about lately.

So I was pleasantly surprised on what was a beautiful sunny morning to see some rays of sunshine coming from the presenters. First up was Roger Gray, Chief Exec of Port of Auckland. Roger talked about how container volumes are consistently up at the Port for the last two months – a sure sign the economy is starting to warm up.

Then Sam Stubbs,...

New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has confirmed the locations for 17 sets of average speed safety cameras.

Subject to final testing, the first set is expected to start enforcing speeds from 1 December at Matakana Road in Warkworth. 

Average speed cameras work by calculating a vehicle’s average speed along a length of road between two cameras(external link). They measure the time the vehicle takes to travel between the cameras and calculate the average speed. Drivers are only ticketed if their a...

Law and rule changes continue

This week’s activities included lobbying the Hon. Mark Patterson, NZ First Spokesperson for Employment and Employment Relations, to continue considering the Employment Relations (Termination of Employment by Agreement) Amendment Bill which is currently awaiting its second reading.

Our people are our most valuable asset and terminations are rare in our industry, typically occurring for exceptional, safety-related reasons – such as drug use, repeated speeding...