Trains will carry export logs from Tangiwai to the Port of Napier via Palmerston North, but the contract only runs until the middle of the year.
Photo: Angela Thomas / The Wairoa Star
A North Island district council says its ratepayers can’t afford to repair extensive damage logging trucks are causing to one of its key roads.
The Rangitīkei mayor said his council was spending around $3.5 million dollars on repairs to the country road between Taihape and Napier, also known as the Gentle Annie.
Dozens of trucks daily have been using the road to carry export logs from the central North Island to the Port of Napier.
Andy Watson said it was not a national highway and was instead managed by the Rangitīkei and Hastings District councils.
He would be lobbying central government for support, ideally to increase the use of the rail network for carrying logs and freight.
“Funding the Gentle Annie Road for both councils is incredibly difficult,” Watson said.
“And yes we do get government assistance by way of what’s called a Financial Assistance Rate (about $66 dollars in $100), but it’s a huge burden on our rate-paying base.”
The issue has been compounded by the higher cost of sending freight by train, which Watson said had made trucking the default choice.
A sign points to Ngamatea Station between Taihape and Napier.
Photo:
“I’d like to work with both governments, with government and the opposition about understanding the full cost to New Zealand on road versus rail,” he said.
“It’s a conversation I want to pursue this year.”
Despite these challenges, the Rangitīkei mayor had recently brokered a short-term solution to to get some of the freight on to rail.
Watson said the one-year contract announced last January, which took logging trucks off the Napier Taihape Road, had been rolled over another six months until July.
Around 27 truck and trailers each day would come off the high country road in the short term, but he was also pushing for a longer term solution.
Logs from the Karioi and Tangiwai forests near Ohakune will be railed from the Tangiwai rail yard to the Napier Port via Palmerston North, but that ends in the middle of the year.
Watson said the extension of the contract came as a relief, despite its short term nature.
“It’s great news that that contract has been put back in place for six months.
“We were putting 700-1000 tonnes per day on a log train that had to go down to Palmerston North and back up to Napier. I was fearful that the contract wouldn’t be renewed this year, because there is a greater distance to cart those logs down to Palmerston North and back up.”
A big logging truck.
Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
KiwiRail, the owner of the forests, the Port of Napier and the log carriers are all part of the agreement.
“Several parties have contributed in various ways to make sure that contract can be renewed,” Watson said.
He said it also allowed for “major repairs” on the Gentle Annie, including re-sealing.
Last year, Napier Port chief executive Todd Dawson said the deal meant a “win for everyone”.
“It’s a great example of how export New Zealand benefits when everyone in the supply chain works together on sensible, efficient solutions that are sustainable and commercially viable for all parties,” Dawson said.
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