NZTD News

New Zealand needs to properly price the cost of its roads as soon as possible, and better charge the cost of those roads to users. That is the stark message from Infrastructure New Zealand who says it’s the only option if the country is to deliver on the transport infrastructure required to keep our economy and communities moving through the 21st century. 

“The alternative is New Zealanders having to put up with more traffic jams, unreliable public transport, a slow and cumbersome freight network, along with inade...

Each year, all the manufacturers of heavy trucks in Europe are invited to the Green Truck comparison test. It is organised by two German trade magazines to identify the most transport-efficient long-haul truck. Apart from a brief hiccup in 2023 – when Scania came second – the Södertälje-based manufacturer has won and been named “Green Truck” for seven out of the last eight tests. In fact, Scania has won the test nine out of the 14 times that it has been held since the competition began in 2011 – an impressive feat!

“Sc...

Weichai Power, a Chinese powertrain supplier, has unveiled a diesel engine that it reports has a record-breaking intrinsic thermal efficiency of 53.09%.

Weichai Power has been working on high thermal efficiency engine research since 2015. On September 16, 2020, it introduced a diesel engine with what was at that time a record-breaking body thermal efficiency of 50.23%. The company continued its progress, announcing it had further increased the engine’s thermal efficiency to 51.09% in early 2022. Most recently, on Novem...

RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. 

“The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal permits to continue their operations. These permits were for activities they were undertaking at the time and had a duration of 35 years,” says Chris Bishop.

“Since then,...

This week I met with Minister for Infrastructure, the Hon. Chris Bishop at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. Two hot topics came up:

- How can we build infrastructure faster?

- How do we protect projects from stopping and starting on political whims, and just get it built?

Before going to the meeting, I heard the Minister for Regional Development, Hon. Shane Jones, on the radio refer to our “constipation” when it comes to building infrastructure. Eloquent as ever, but not wrong. So what is Minister Bishop l...

Myself and our policy advisor Billy Clemens had a meeting with Transport Minister Simeon Brown yesterday that went very well.

He actually seemed even more upbeat than we were about getting the Roads of National Significance delivered, and getting land transport rules changed which will boost productivity and have safety benefits. But time will tell!

It was refreshing to see that the coalition government seems to be more agile and responsive. This came out in our chat about the risks we saw with the recent changes...