Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Win for truckies, loss for coastal shipping

On the face of it, this coastal shipping decision from James Meager seems like an odd one.

It's a win for truckies, like it or not, we're about to get 500 extra trucks filled with 15,000 tonnes of bulk cement on the road each month.

But it's bad for coastal shipping, even though the Minister says it's actually good for coastal shipping.

Let me explain.

There's a cement company that wants to ship its product round the country, but its current ship is old and buggered.

So a new one is coming to the rescue, but in the meantime, they've sorted a temporary ship for three years to fill the gap.

Well, they did. Until the Minister, James Meager (Assoc. Transport) stepped in and said Nah. You can't operate that vessel here because its foreign-flagged ship.

Meager says he's simply following the law.

The vast majority of goods being moved around the country from local ports are on kiwi boats with kiwi crew, making sure we have kiwi jobs etc.

All very well and good.

Except there's apparently no alterative for the cement guys, Holcim, so they're forced to send everything by road for three years.

And here's the bit that's worrying (aside form the fact we're loading the roads up with more heavy trucks that in many places they clearly can't handle).

Holcim reckons this decision will cost it of millions of dollars.

And once you sink that investment into freight by road, there will come a time when returning to shipping becomes unviable.

So the cement stays on the road.

So in this case, three years with kiwi workers missing out may turn into forever.

And that doesn't seem like a very smart decision, especially at a time when we're trying to boost coastal shipping (newsflash: we're long islands surrounded by water) and when we're limping across the cook straight from the next three years without proper ferries.

I would have thought this makes the whole system a bit weak and vulnerable. Would an extra ship at a time like this not be a good idea, no matter where it's come from and who's manning the deck?

Ryan Bridge is a New Zealand broadcaster who has worked on many current affairs television and radio shows. He currently hosts Newstalk ZB's Early Edition - where this article was sourced.