The suggestion we might have flights to Oz (HBT17/10/12) is premature knowing the background of those involved, though Hawke's Bay's struggling economy could certainly do with the lift in spirit and trade it would provide.
Official accommodation figures for August reveal a whopping 27.8% reduction in motel guest nights this year compared to last. One motel has been liquidated, many others are struggling. Retailers are hurting as is the conference trade. Opera House Chairman John Buck has commented that excessive air fares had made Hawke's Bay unattractive.
Passenger numbers through our airport have have been static compared to four years ago. In comparison during the same period Queenstown airport has experienced a 46% increase in travellers.
Only the thousands of cruise ship passengers visiting us is preventing a meltdown, but we need to be realistic. The ships look fantastic, deliver essential spending but are not a replacement for our traditional visitors. The reduction in bed nights for August alone was 16 000, about the same number as cruise passengers for an average month during the six month season.
Cruising is likely a major cause of self drive and coach touring dropping off but is more seasonal, and probably less valuable. Nor can we control whether they continue to come here since the reason they do is for scheduling convenience rather than anything else.
I consider the Mayor of Napier to be the single biggest impediment to more destinations plus better and cheaper air services. Surely the state of our economy is a wake up call to the Mayor. We are the bottom ranked economy in the latest ASB regional comparison, the only area in the country with a one star ranking. High unemployment might even be worse if so many people were not leaving to live elsewhere.
Art Deco is great and brings in a lot of people but it seems nothing else matters to Mrs Arnott and it's an excessively narrow focus.
This will probably astonish many people but she recently stated she did not favour better air services for Hawke's Bay people because it would allow them to spend their money elsewhere. At least a couple dozen others heard it as well. This confirms my long held suspicion she opposes better air services and always has.
In 2004 I wrote to her detailing the grossly inaccurate and seriously misleading content in a council report on trans-Tasman air services. She responded by stating “the media do not know everything”, apparently referring to my working in the media, but completely ignoring the sound and indisputable information I provided.
Incredibly in June 2006 she then effectively gave the discredited report credibility by writing “One report on the airport has been considered by Napier and Hastings which concluded that Hawke's Bay did not have the infrastructure in place to attract and sustain international flights. All existing trans-Tasman airlines have confirmed this.
In 2007when the privately funded $40 000 BERL report was released and calculated there were already sufficient passengers to support direct services to Australia, plus a potential $43 million improvement to regional GDP she simply commented “it was in the public domain”.
Recently (28/07/12 HBT) she was reported as claiming “ to have canvassed every alternative international carrier in terms of flights and none of them have been interested in flying to Hawke's Bay”
Frankly I don't believe it and challenge her to provide proof by way of correspondence, proposals, reports, or minutes, plus appropriate responses rejecting them, to support her claims. Some chance encounter at a flash Air New Zealand sponsored lunch counts for nothing in my view.
For eight years since I first became involved Hawke's Bay people have been forced to pay the outrageous airfares inflicted by a monopoly supplier. It seems those who don't live here have decided to travel elsewhere and unless we restore our competitiveness with other visitor destinations, we will continue to go backwards. We have so much to offer and its a great pity she has not supported the airport with the same enthusiasm as the museum and McLean Park grandstand projects.
Mrs Arnott believes the Local Government reforms will force amalgamation because Hastings has more voters. It seems the only way to progress the airport issue and get all of Hawke's Bay moving again is to remove Mrs Arnott's influence, and it seems the easiest way of doing this is amalgamation.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Closing the Gisborne Railway
This weeks KiwiRail decision to mothball the railway line between Napier and Gisborne, was not unexpected but is disappointing. Money is being raised to fund an investigation into the decision but the reality is this line has been troublesome for many years, has probably never been profitable , and therefore would require support from either ratepayers or taxpayers.
Perhaps we might better understand the situation if we look at the history and the many problems experienced . I have some knowledge of the issues as a result of providing media coverage of many of the issues over the past 25 years.
Although development started in 1910 more or less towards the end of the great railway construction period work in earnest did not get underway until the 1920's . The job was not finished until1942 having been seriously disrupted by the great depression and a major flood in 1938 when 21 construction workers died. It was the last major line to be built in this country.
In the 1980's the closure of Wattie's Gisborne's processing plant and the meat freezing works probably reduced freight volumes quite severely.
In 1987 Cyclone Bola scoured out the south bank just south of Gisborne resulting in a significant length of track left dangling in mid air. Effectively the terminus ended up 15 Km or more south of the city until the bridge was extended at a cost of manymillions. I can still remember the official opening by then then Minister of railways Richard Prebble.
Of course while this was happening more shippers must have discovered road was both a cost effective and convenient alternative.
In yet another incident about 10 years ago a large railway crane collapsed the bridge over the Nuhaka river, again putting the line was out of commission for several months and requiring millions more on repairs.
The most recent has been a huge washout that's estimated to cost at least $4 million to repair. Significant track and bridge work will also be required in the future. That's why KiwiRail seemed to have decided to call it a day.
Whether the line will ever be recommissioned is far from clear. While rail does have an important place in the economy, and in some countries is even making a comeback, these conditions may not ever exist for this particular line. Rail suits commodities such as coal, iron ore and bulk liquids, especially where terminal facilities can be provided to minimise handling costs. Controversially if fracking could possibly create an oil industry the rail may be needed again.
Rail also has an advantage on longer distances where fuel and other efficiencies can be realised. The ability to electrify rail systems is also an issue as fossil fuels become more expensive and the environmental impact of their use more significant.
Whilst 200Km seems a long way when driving its probably well short of ideal for rail. Undoubtedly however the greatest difficulty is the lack of meaningful traffic volumes. The long touted wall of wood seems never to arrive and its possible if it ever does that it will be shipped overseas direct from Gisborne's port.
Unlike roads that can be used for freight, buses, and private vehicles, rail has only one use and that is trains.
Trucks are also getting larger, more powerful, and more efficient. More importantly road transport is point to point, eliminating the multiple handling that is inevitable with rail, and often involves travelling shorter distance overall. For many it is simply more convenient.
There have been some attempts to boost usage. In the early 1990's Wattie's used rail to ship tomatoes from Poverty Bay to their factory in Hastings for processing. Using rail might seem logical but it wasn't attractive. Before starting the journey loads had to be shipped in the opposite direction just to get to the rail head. There was also extra handling as the loads were transferred from trucks to rail wagons. Also it needed an awful lot of tomatoes to make up a train load, so a lot of produce sat in the sun. And at times the factory ground to a stop awaiting the train, then when it did arrive was swamped by hundreds of tonnes of tomatoes waiting processing.
It didn't stop Wattie's growing tomatoes in Gisborrne, but they found trickling loads direct from field to factory by individuals truck a better option.
Whilst Gisborne is very isolated and therefore dependent on transport links improving road transport has had a major impact on the railway. It may have even forced the overnight Gisborne to Napier ferry service to cease operating.
In reality rail was probably only viable when the 40 mile limitation on road transport was in force.
Whilst the road between Napier and Gisborne is narrow, has many hill sections and is also subject to slips and disruptions but these are significantly less serious than those experienced by the rail line and it can be improved. The recently opened Matahorua gorge bi pass has already eliminated a very slow and slip prone section, saving trucks perhaps 10 minutes. An extra $4 million has been allocated to building additional passing lanes.
Whilst good transport links are vital for any modern community this does not necessarily mean rail. Nelson at the top of the South Island is every bit as isolated as Gisborne, yet seems to do well despite not having rail links.
Also judging by the huge number of trucks operating travelling between Hawke's Bay and either Taupo or Palmerston North and points south, its clear that significant volumes of freight are still sent by road even when an functioning railway is available.
Perhaps we might better understand the situation if we look at the history and the many problems experienced . I have some knowledge of the issues as a result of providing media coverage of many of the issues over the past 25 years.
Although development started in 1910 more or less towards the end of the great railway construction period work in earnest did not get underway until the 1920's . The job was not finished until1942 having been seriously disrupted by the great depression and a major flood in 1938 when 21 construction workers died. It was the last major line to be built in this country.
In the 1980's the closure of Wattie's Gisborne's processing plant and the meat freezing works probably reduced freight volumes quite severely.
In 1987 Cyclone Bola scoured out the south bank just south of Gisborne resulting in a significant length of track left dangling in mid air. Effectively the terminus ended up 15 Km or more south of the city until the bridge was extended at a cost of manymillions. I can still remember the official opening by then then Minister of railways Richard Prebble.
Of course while this was happening more shippers must have discovered road was both a cost effective and convenient alternative.
In yet another incident about 10 years ago a large railway crane collapsed the bridge over the Nuhaka river, again putting the line was out of commission for several months and requiring millions more on repairs.
The most recent has been a huge washout that's estimated to cost at least $4 million to repair. Significant track and bridge work will also be required in the future. That's why KiwiRail seemed to have decided to call it a day.
Whether the line will ever be recommissioned is far from clear. While rail does have an important place in the economy, and in some countries is even making a comeback, these conditions may not ever exist for this particular line. Rail suits commodities such as coal, iron ore and bulk liquids, especially where terminal facilities can be provided to minimise handling costs. Controversially if fracking could possibly create an oil industry the rail may be needed again.
Rail also has an advantage on longer distances where fuel and other efficiencies can be realised. The ability to electrify rail systems is also an issue as fossil fuels become more expensive and the environmental impact of their use more significant.
Whilst 200Km seems a long way when driving its probably well short of ideal for rail. Undoubtedly however the greatest difficulty is the lack of meaningful traffic volumes. The long touted wall of wood seems never to arrive and its possible if it ever does that it will be shipped overseas direct from Gisborne's port.
Unlike roads that can be used for freight, buses, and private vehicles, rail has only one use and that is trains.
Trucks are also getting larger, more powerful, and more efficient. More importantly road transport is point to point, eliminating the multiple handling that is inevitable with rail, and often involves travelling shorter distance overall. For many it is simply more convenient.
There have been some attempts to boost usage. In the early 1990's Wattie's used rail to ship tomatoes from Poverty Bay to their factory in Hastings for processing. Using rail might seem logical but it wasn't attractive. Before starting the journey loads had to be shipped in the opposite direction just to get to the rail head. There was also extra handling as the loads were transferred from trucks to rail wagons. Also it needed an awful lot of tomatoes to make up a train load, so a lot of produce sat in the sun. And at times the factory ground to a stop awaiting the train, then when it did arrive was swamped by hundreds of tonnes of tomatoes waiting processing.
It didn't stop Wattie's growing tomatoes in Gisborrne, but they found trickling loads direct from field to factory by individuals truck a better option.
Whilst Gisborne is very isolated and therefore dependent on transport links improving road transport has had a major impact on the railway. It may have even forced the overnight Gisborne to Napier ferry service to cease operating.
In reality rail was probably only viable when the 40 mile limitation on road transport was in force.
Whilst the road between Napier and Gisborne is narrow, has many hill sections and is also subject to slips and disruptions but these are significantly less serious than those experienced by the rail line and it can be improved. The recently opened Matahorua gorge bi pass has already eliminated a very slow and slip prone section, saving trucks perhaps 10 minutes. An extra $4 million has been allocated to building additional passing lanes.
Whilst good transport links are vital for any modern community this does not necessarily mean rail. Nelson at the top of the South Island is every bit as isolated as Gisborne, yet seems to do well despite not having rail links.
Also judging by the huge number of trucks operating travelling between Hawke's Bay and either Taupo or Palmerston North and points south, its clear that significant volumes of freight are still sent by road even when an functioning railway is available.
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