Transport Outlook

Overview 2016
A summary of New Zealand’s transport system

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June 2017
About this report
Transport plays a major role in New Zealand’s society
and economy. Transport contributes to job creation
and our social, cultural, and sporting interactions, and
it supports growth in international trade and tourism.
This Transport Outlook Overview 2016 booklet provides
a quick view of our transport system, and is part of the
Transport Outlook resource kit. To explore these
resources, visit www.transport.govt.nz/transportoutlook

Transport Outlook Resource kit

Overview booklet For:

anyone who wants a
brief overview and key
This transport facts.
document

Transport Outlook:
Overview
This summarises key
transport information

Detailed documents Specifically for:

those requiring a more
in-depth understanding
of our transport system,
for example policy-
makers and planners.

Transport Outlook: Transport Outlook:

Current State Future State
This reports the current This looks ahead at potential
state of our transport system. 30-year future scenarios.

Comprehensive Technical documentation Specifically for:

online resource Downloadable data and models and an explanation of modelling methodologies those who use data
to inform their policies
and plans, for example
analysts, planners,
and policy-makers in
GoTO local and central
government and firms.
WWW.TRANSPORT.GOVT.NZ/TRANSPORTOUTLOOK

Your ‘GoTO’ for New Zealand transport-related data

You’ll find the above documents, data and models generated from existing information.
Me mātau ki te
whetū, i mua i te
kōkiri o te haere
Before you set forth on a journey,
be sure you know the stars
In the past, we referred to the stars to help show us the way.

Nowadays, we live in a world full of emerging technology – but knowing

how to access the right data to help guide us forward is not easy.

This is why we have created this Transport Outlook.

It gathers, collates, and analyses different clusters of transport-related

data to help us navigate where we should go.

We call this Transport Outlook our ‘GoTO’, as it will play an increasingly

pivotal role in helping to steer the New Zealand transport sector forward.

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1
Our transport system is facing growing demand

Our population is growing

New Zealand population1

• A growing population
lifts demand for transport
6 services and use
Population
of infrastructure...

5 ...but population
distribution and
growth are uneven:
4 half of the population lives
in the Auckland–Waikato–
Million people

Bay of Plenty area

3
• Our population is ageing
and more older people
2 remain active in the work
Actual
force, adding to demand
Projected
for transport to work
1

0
1926
1931
1941
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001
2011
2016
2028
2038
2048
2058
2068

% of population aged 65+1 % of population aged 65+ in the workforce1

At the other end of

30 25 the age spectrum,
20 younger New Zealanders
20
15 have different lifestyles
%

10
10 and attitudes: fewer young
5
0 0
people are applying for
their driver licence
2001

2006

2013
1981

2013

2063

2
We’re welcoming a lot more overseas visitors

International tourists visiting New Zealand1 2

Over 36,000 aircraft arrived in

5 New Zealand in 2016, just over
double the number in 1998

4
On average planes
International are carrying
tourists
more passengers
3
Million visitors

Tourism is a key sector for

New Zealand: it creates
2 demand for travel by air, rail,
Actual Projected
ferry, and road (buses and
rental cars) and movement of
1
goods to our tourism hotspots

0
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022

Transport is important for our trade with the world

Commodity imports and exports from sea ports1

• Over the last ten years

40 our imports have increased
Exports by 17% and exports by
30 74% (by volume)
• Exports and imports are
Million tonnes

20
Imports expected to keep growing
and to be carried on much
10
larger freight vessels

0 • Good rail and road

connections to our ports
1989

1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

and airports are important

to support that growth
In terms of $ value, our main export In terms of $ value, our main import
commodities are dairy products, meat, commodities are machinery and
logs and wood, fruit, machinery and equipment, vehicles and parts,
equipment, fish and seafood, and wine petroleum, textiles and plastics

3
We travel in many different ways

Use of transport modes for trips3

New Zealanders spend

on average just under
one hour a day travelling

3% 1%
Public transport Cyclist 1 hr
17% day
Pedestrian

1%
Motorcyclist

26% 53%
Car passenger
Car driver

We use our cars and SUVs

2010/14
for most of our daily trips

... our average per capita travel by car has been levelling off with a
Two-car households recent uplift (up over 2% since 2012)
(38.4% of all households)
are now more common than Per capita car travel8
households with only one car
(37.6% of all households)1
9,000
8,000 Light
passenger
7,000 travel
6,000
Km per annum

5,000
38.4%
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
37.6%
2004

2014
2003

2005

2009

2013

2015
2008
2006

2010
2002

2012
2001

2007

2011

4
We’re also walking and cycling less

Average trips per annum3 % of children cycling to school3

20 20
1989/90 2010/14 15 15

10 10
Walking 1,080 930
5 5

0 0
1989/90 2010/14 1989/90 2010/14
Cycling 180 73 Primary school Secondary school

New Zealanders walk less Fewer school children

than one hour per week are biking to school

less than
1 hour
per week

We use public transport for 3% of all trips

Public transport use4

• Public transport
160 use has been
Auckland
increasing in
140
Auckland and Wellington
120
• Growth in other cities
Wellington
100
is slower, or patronage
Million boardings

is in decline
80 Christchurch
Christchurch
60 patronage is yet
Hamilton to return to pre-
40 earthquake levels
20 Dunedin
Queenstown

0
2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Tauranga

5
Air transport
Domestic airports
35 airports have scheduled
domestic passenger services
35
Airports
0.5 million
0.1 million
About 38 million passengers
used our airports in 2016:
25 million on domestic
flights and 13 million on
international flights
6
International airports
(international passengers)
International flights service
five airports: Auckland,
Wellington, Christchurch,
Queenstown, and Dunedin
9.9 million
0.9 million
1.6 million
38
million
Hub airports
(domestic passengers)
8.4 million
5.1 million
4.8 million
Auckland, Wellington,
and Christchurch are
hub airports: almost all
domestic passengers pass
through these airports
International and domestic passengers through our main airports5

About 3/4 of international

18 Auckland AKL passengers and 1/3 of
16 domestic passengers
pass through Auckland
14

12
Queenstown is our
Million passengers

10 ZQN fastest growing

8 airport in % terms
Christchurch
Wellington
6

4 Nelson is not an
2 Queenstown
international airport
Dunedin but has more domestic
0
DUD passengers than Dunedin
2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Infrastructure Air freight Largest airport

Sound airport infrastructure Air freight carries less By $ value, Auckland
and land transport than 1% of our trade by International Airport is
access are required volume, but about 16% our third largest export
to cope with growing of our exports and 22% port and second largest
passenger numbers of our imports by $ value import port1

Third Second
largest
16% 22% largest
export import
of exports of imports port port

7
Road transport
Our vehicle fleet has grown by 44% since 2000

Vehicle fleet8

3
Million vehicles

Cars and SUVs make up

1
about three quarters of
the vehicle fleet

0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

Cars & SUVs Vans & Utes Motorcycles Trucks Buses Other

8
Electric vehicles Roads and highways Why the increase?
Electric vehicles (EVs) New Zealand has 10,855 km Travel on the roads
represent less than 0.1% of State highways and has increased with
of the vehicle fleet but 84,150 km of local roads growth in the:
registrations are increasing – population
– vehicle fleet
The number of EVs more than
– tourism
doubled in 2016 to 2,430
State highway

Distance travelled on local roads and State highways8

Waikato and the Bay of Plenty

50 have the highest density of
State highways; Southland
40 has the lowest

State highways
Billion vehicle km travelled

30
Highest
density
20

Local roads
10 Lowest
density

0
2001/02
2002/03
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15

9
Rail transport
Rail provides an important public transport service in Auckland and Wellington,
and a long-distance service on weekdays between Palmerston North and Wellington

Train patronage in Auckland and Wellington6

20

Train patronage in Auckland

has grown by 67% over five
Auckland years. During 2016 alone,
patronage grew by 18%
15

Wellington
Million boardings

10

Train patronage in
Wellington has grown
by 14% over five years
5

0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

10
Auckland
Auckland train patronage
has grown with service and
infrastructure improvements

The new City Rail Link in

Auckland will help support growth
in the use of commuter rail

Long-distance passenger services KiwiRail

Long-distance passenger
services (Wellington to Auckland,
Picton to Christchurch, Christchurch
to Greymouth) cater increasingly
to the tourist market
KiwiRail carries both bulk
commodities and container
freight – its market share
is about 16% of total road/
rail freight based
on tonnage and
distance travelled9

11
Maritime transport

13
New Zealand ports
New Zealand has 13 ports:
– ten are container and bulk ports
– three handle bulk cargo only

Exports and imports from New Zealand ports1

20
18
16
Marsden Point is where
14 most of our oil comes in
12
Million tonnes

10
8 By $ value the port at
6 Auckland handles over
4
half of our maritime
imports: it’s where most
2
of our consumer goods
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 and vehicles come in
Whangarei
Tauranga

Auckland

Lyttelton

Taranaki

Napier

Otago

Nelson
Wellington

Gisborne

Picton
Bluff

Timaru

1
Exports Imports 30.6.2015 to 30.6.2016

9
5
6

Logs are an important export commodity 12

8
for ports such as Whangarei (Marsden Point), 13

Gisborne, Nelson, Wellington, and Picton

About two thirds of our exports by
volume are bulk products such 4
as logs, chemicals, and oil
11

10

12
Our ports are welcoming a growing number of cruise ship passengers

Cruise ships and passengers visiting New Zealand7

Cruising is gaining in
300,000 160 popularity, requiring
Voyages
(right axis) infrastructure to cater
140
250,000 for bigger cruise ships
120

200,000
Passengers 100
(left axis)

150,000 80

60
100,000

40

50,000
20

0 0
2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16

Wellington-Picton ferries Freight

The Wellington-Picton Vessels move 14% of our
ferries play an important freight based on tonnage
connecting role for and distance travelled,
freight, and carry about mostly bulk commodities
1.1 million passengers 1.1m such as petroleum products
each year – about one and cement, around the
third are overseas tourists coast and between islands

13
Freight movements
Freight is carried by road (trucks), rail, air, and on coastal vessels

Freight tonnage9

250
Road carries more than
90% of our freight tonnage
200

150
Million tonnes

100

50

0
2005/06 2012/13

Excludes air freight as

Road Rail Coastal shipping information on volumes
is not available

14
Breakdown of freight commodities (% of tonnage)8

3%
11%
Other items
Almost one third of freight by
Petroleum tonnage are manufactured,
4%
Livestock retail, and other goods
33%
Manufactured,
5% retail, other goods
Horticultural,
other agricultural
% of tonnage

Freight

9%
Milk

19%
16%
Logs, timber Aggregate,
concrete, limestone

2012/13

Localised movements Golden triangle Between the main islands

Freight movements are very 42% of freight tonnage is Only 2.2% of freight tonnage
localised: 77% of freight moved in the Auckland – is moved between the
tonnage is moved within Waikato – Bay of Plenty area North and South Islands
the same region (mostly southwards)
42%
where it is sourced 77% freight

15
More information
In this Transport Outlook: Overview 2016 document we provide a
quick view of our transport system.
The information comes mainly from the
New Zealand Transport Outlook: Current State 2016
report that summarises the state of our transport
system across all modes. It is available at
www.transport.govt.nz/transportoutlook along
with further data and statistical indicators.

For further information, contact transportindicators@transport.govt.nz

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16
Sources 1 Stats NZ
2 Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for projections
3 Ministry of Transport New Zealand Household Travel Survey
4 Auckland Transport, Greater Wellington Regional Council,
Environment Canterbury, New Zealand Transport Agency
5 Airport annual reports and other public sources
6 Auckland Transport and Greater Wellington Regional Council
7 Cruise New Zealand
8 Ministry of Transport analysis
9 Ministry of Transport National Freight Demand Study

Disclaimer All reasonable endeavours are made to ensure the accuracy

of the information in this document. However, the information
is provided without warranties of any kind including accuracy,
completeness, timeliness, or fitness for any particular
purpose. The Ministry of Transport excludes liability for any
loss, damage, or expense, direct or indirect, and however
caused, whether through negligence or otherwise, resulting
from any person’s or organisation’s use of, or reliance on, the
information provided in this document. Disclaimer details are
available at www.transport.govt.nz.

Copyright Under the terms of the New Zealand Creative Commons

Attribution 4.0 [BY] licence, this document, and the
information contained within it, can be copied, distributed,
adapted, and otherwise used provided that:
• the Ministry of Transport is attributed as the source of
the material
• the material is not misrepresented or distorted through
selective use of the material
• images contained in the material are not copied.
Copyright details are available at www.transport.govt.nz.

Citation Ministry of Transport (2017) New Zealand Transport Outlook:

Overview 2016 Wellington: Ministry of Transport
Published in June 2017 by the Ministry of Transport,
PO Box 3175, Wellington 6140, New Zealand

ISBN 978-0-478-07294-5 (PDF)

978-0-478-07297-6 (print)

17
Ministry of Transport,
PO Box 3175, Wellington 6140
Tel: +64 4 439 9000
Email: transportoutlook@transport.govt.nz
www.transport.govt.nz

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