Submission: Draft National Disaster and Emergency strategy
7 December 2018
National Disaster and Resilience Strategy Submissions
Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management
P O Box 5010
Wellington 6145
Sent by email:
Submission on the DRAFT National Disaster and Emergency Strategy
Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission in respect of the draft National Disaster and Resilience Strategy 2018.
Background
Coastal shipping is a vital part of New Zealand’s transport infrastructure.Recent events have shown that the coastal network is important for New Zealand economic, environmental and social welfare and vital during emergencies when road links are disabled.
New Zealand depends on coastal ships.For example:
- for delivery of important goods such as fuel oil and cement.
- for provision of a bridge for freight and passengers between Picton and Wellington.
- for moving containerised and bulk cargo around the coast
- when other modes of transport are not useable because roads or railways are broken
- two main islands with significant supply dependency between the islands,
- on-going reliance on just-in-time supply chains (referred to at page 11 in the document),
- many coastal cities, towns, villages and individual dwellings that have the potential to be isolated by land slips,
- dependence on international shipping for both imports and imports.
Central and local government decisions as well as port decisions affect the performance of the coastal network.
In the last 24 months, 4 new ships have joined the coastal fleet reflecting investments of over $150million in the New Zealand economy.
The Federation is committed to working with decision-makers to ensure that the best policy settings are in place for the benefit of all New Zealanders.We are happy to work proactively to bring sector knowledge to support the policy-making process.
The Federation remains committed to safe, secure and clean shipping.
The New Zealand Shipping Federation began in 1906 and is the key representative body for New Zealand’s coastal shippers.Members of the Federation are:
| Coastal Bulk Shipping | www.coastalbulkshipping.co.nz | Anatoki | Bulk cargo |
| Coastal Oil Logistics (COLL) | www.coll.co.nz | ||
| Holcim | www.holcim.co.nz | Buffalo | Cement |
| InterIslander | www.interislander.co.nz | Aratere | Cook Strait ferry |
| Kaiarahi | Cook Strait ferry | ||
| Kaitaki | Cook Strait ferry | ||
| NIWA | www.niwa.co.nz | Tangaroa | Research |
| Kaharoa | Research | ||
| China Navigation | Aotearoa Chief | Cement | |
| www.pacship.co.nz | Spirit of Canterbury | Container cargo | |
| Silver Fern Shipping | www.sfsl.co.nz | Kokako | Fuel |
| Matuku | Fuel | ||
| Strait Shipping | www.strait.co.nz | Straitsman | Cook Strait ferry |
| Strait Feronia | Cook Strait ferry |
DRAFT National Disaster and Emergency Strategy
The Federation appreciates that the draft strategy is written at a very high level of generality and principle.We appreciate that this the scope has been tailored to ensure that it is focussed on the disaster aspects of resilience and we agree that this is necessary in order to make the document meaningful.That said, the audiences for this document include central and local government as well as businesses, organisations and iwi.It is not just about individual readiness.
The Federation endorses the document’s goal of New Zealand being a risk savvy nation (page 23).This is about identifying the real risks and addressing them.
Even at the very high level at which the document is addressed, the Federation believes that there is a need to address the impact of the unique geography of New Zealand and the way that transportation and supply systems have evolved to meet the challenges created by our geography.Specific risks that have been apparent after recent earthquakes include:
Many lessons were learnt in the Kaikoura earthquake but we are concerned that these lessons may have been quickly forgotten.We cannot solely rely on the same level of good luck that got us through that emergency. For that reason, we recommend that the role of transport resilience should be acknowledged explicitly as being as important as:
- social resilience
- cultural resilience
- economic resilience
- resilience of the built environment
- resilience of the natural environment, and
- governance of risk and resilience.
The Federation believes there are considerable risks if it is just assumed that transportation will get picked up as an aspect of other issues.
The document needs to acknowledge that there are situations where there is a gap between the commercial interests of a single operator and the costs of putting system-wide resilience measures in place.A risk savvy nation would identify how such gaps can be filled and would fill them in readiness.Alternative mooring points on both islands for the Cook Strait ferries is an example of this as the operators cannot be held responsible for the provision of such emergency stand-by readiness.
The role of port infrastructure generally needs to be acknowledged as part of the strategy.A laissez faire approach to port infrastructure, effectively looking at them as a stand-alone business, ignores the critical role that ports play in every aspect of the life of the people that rely on them as a means of incoming and outgoing supply.
To be resilient, coastal communities need to consider what maritime alternatives they may be able to use in the event that they are cut off by land and what needs to be put in place to enable this.
The Federation is happy to assist in the further development of this draft so that it is comprehensive.
Annabel Young
Executive Director
P O Box 10739, The Terrace, Wellington 6143
021 429 216