Deepening shipping channels at the Port of Tauranga is essential to maintaining the Bay of Plenty’s competitive edge, says economic development agency Priority One CEO Andrew Coker.
The Port of Tauranga is currently in a consent hearing with Environment BOP to gain permission to do the digging necessary to allow access for bigger ships.

Andrew spoke at the hearing held in Mount Maunganui on Tuesday, where he explained the port is New Zealand’s largest export gateway.
Economic impact studies clearly highlight the importance of the Port of Tauranga to both the regional and national economies, says Andrew.
“A move to larger container and bulk vessels operating in the Australasian trade area offers both risk and opportunity,” says Andrew.
“Larger vessels offer the potential for significant supply chain and carbon footprint savings to our key commodity exporters, contributing to increased returns and importantly, market access and competitiveness – vital to a trading country so far from its markets.”
Australia is already building its ability to take these larger vessels, says Andrew. The risk is if Tauranga is not permitted to expand, then New Zealand exporters are likely to be forced to trans-ship via ports such as Melbourne – posing unacceptable delays to market, and increasing costs on already tight margins.
Priority One works closely with the kiwifruit sector, the sub-region’s largest single contributor to GDP at nearly 20 per cent of the total. Grower investment across the wider Bay of Plenty exceeds $3 billion, and investment by the post-harvest sector is approximately $400 million.  
Current exports of more than 100 million trays are set to double within 10 years with the large majority of this grown in the Bay of Plenty and exported through the Port of Tauranga.
Aquaculture is an emerging sector with a 3800ha aquaculture marine area declared off the coast of Opotiki. When fully established, export volumes through the Port are expected to exceed 40,000 tonnes by 2025.
“The Port of Tauranga is well poised to cope with our rapidly growing and emerging export sectors,” says Andrew.
“It has land available and a strong balance sheet to fund the necessary capital to meet this growth.  
“The opportunity to enable the Port of Tauranga to accept increased capacity container and bulk vessels is significant and strategically important to both the regional economy, and the national economy as a whole.”