Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand

 

Labour and National both made headlines more than once in the last couple months on their positions regarding planned increases to fuel excise duties (FED) and by extension, road user charges (RUC). 

I’m mindful we remain apolitical, but Transporting New Zealand does play an important role in keeping members well-informed when they consider exercising their right to vote in the General Election.

Our road funding model is predominantly based on user-pays; the duties collected from fuel and RUC are ring-fenced and invested in accordance with the National Land Transport Plan (NLTP). The amount of funding collected that way is important because we have certainty that it will be ...

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand News -

In July I joined a panel at the New Zealand Cargo Owners Council AGM to discuss building freight resilience in an uncertain world. It was a multi-modal panel representing rail, shipping, and ports.

I like engaging in these discussions because it’s a great opportunity to better understand what matters to other parts of the supply chain.

The first part of the conversation recognised that our supply chains are pretty resilient, albeit more often a result of reactive, rather than proactive measures and risk mitigation controls. Consider the earthquakes in Christchurch and Kaikōura, COVID, and more recently the volatility with fuel; by and large we’ve come through...

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand News -

The Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor tracks what us Kiwis are most concerned about. Ipsos surveys roughly 1,000 people and publishes the findings quarterly, to keep track of what is at the front of voters’ minds.

The 32nd update in May presented some interesting shifts from earlier reports. The most significant change was a surge in concern for petrol and fuel prices.

In the October 2025 report, “petrol / fuel prices” ranked 14th. In February 2026, it ranked ninth, and then moved up to fourth place in May.

The ranking for transport / public transport / infrastructure did not change quite so drastically – going from 13th, to 16th, to 12th in October 2025, February 2026, and ...

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand News -

In April, 18 people died on New Zealand roads in just ten days. Six were not wearing seatbelts, and in half the crashes a vehicle crossed the centre line. It was a stark reminder that, despite promising improvements in road safety outcomes over the past couple of years, New Zealand still has a long way to go.

Transporting New Zealand was proud to support Road Safety Week from 4-10 May, held by the Brake charity.

The initiative is especially important for our sector because the road is the workplace for over 30,000 truck drivers and many others working in transport. In 2024 alone trucks, buses and light commercial vehicles collectively travelled over 14 billion kilometres. We want...

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand News -

There’s nothing like seeing a bunch of Kiwi athletes with some nice, shiny medals at an Olympic Games.

After all the hard work, all the physical and emotional endurance, all the support of friends and families, it’s a magical thing. Even to get to the Olympics is such an enormous achievement.

Back on the less elevated level of day-to-day life, our industry has been having some decent wins, and business as usual continues at pace.

Late July we had an historic day at our organisation with the Board formally adopting a new constitution and governance structure.

The new constitution introduces a single national membership structure, supported by r...

Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand News -

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