Coastal shipping policy in New Zealand: Economy wide implications

Government recently introduced the Transport Law Reform Bill, which if passed by Parliament, will allow foreign vessels to uplift and discharge cargoes and passengers along the coast of New Zealand. Coastal shipping is part of the domestic transport industry along with other transport modes including road, rail and air. The domestic transport industry currently operates on a "level playing field" in a highly competitive and efficient industry, which has benefitted from deregulation and considerable restructuring over the last decade. This paper presents a brief review of the coastal shipping industry in New Zealand and an overview of international cabotage laws. An alternative open coast shipping policy proposed by the New Zealand Shipping Federation, which is based on reciprocity and "level playing fields " principles, is presented. The scope of cost benefit analysis is outlined and the economy wide implications of the potential costs and benefits of the Government's open coast shipping policy are summarised. The potential costs to New Zealand include the effects on employment, equity, Government finances, regional development, service levels, the environment, primary industry and national defence strategy. The potential benefits primarily relate to the economic effects of possible lower freight rates, particularly for traffic from the North Island to the South Island, the route taken by most cross traders. Government officials have prepared a Cabinet paper, which was subsequently agreed to by Government, recommending opening up the coasts to foreign vessels without undertaking an empirical costs benefit analysis. The Government officials' background papers related to this Cabinet paper have been obtained through the Official Information Act and these have been analysed. Based on this work it appears that the case for an open coast policy is far from convincing, and in actual fact there appears to be considerable evidence to suggest that the potential costs to New Zealand far outweigh the potential benefits. The conclusion of this paper suggests that Clause 240 (and other clauses) of the Transport Law Reform Bill relating to an open coast policy should be withdrawn and a full empirical cost benefit analysis should be undertaken to determine the best coastal shipping policy for New Zealand

Railway system in New Zealand: Case study in strategic change

The New Zealand railway system has undergone considerable changes over the past decade. Prior to 1 April 1982, the railway system was managed and controlled by the New Zealand Railways Department. This Department was frequently used as an instrument of the Government's social and economic policies, often in direct conflict with its commercial objectives. The New Zealand Railways Corporation was established on 1 April 1982, with a Board of Directors appointed with a wide range of business sector experiences. The major purpose of this restructuring was to allow the Corporation to run its operations on a more commercial basis. Regulations controlling competition from road transport of freight had been in place since the 1930's. These regulations were progressively released and finally removed in 1983 with the total deregulation of the road transport industry in New Zealand. The NZ Railways Corporation responded well to the restructured organisational environment and deregulated freight market by making dramatic gains in overall efficiency. However the financial costs of this restructuring were considerable, and by_ 1989, five years of increased net losses had reduced shareholders equity to 4% of total assets. The Corporation was on the verge of technical bankruptcy. This resulted in substantial restructuring of the NZ Railways Corporation balance sheet in 1990 and the establishment of New Zealand Rail Ltd on 28 October 1990. By June 1992, New Zealand Rail Ltd had been restored to profitability, showing a net profit of $36 million, equivalent to a return of 12% on shareholders funds. Staff numbers had been dramatically reduced to 5400, down from 21,600 in 1982. This paper examines the performance of the railway system in New Zealand from 1982 to 1992, during the period of considerable changes in the regulatory and institutional environment in which it operated. It also discusses the issue of future public or private ownership of the railway system in New Zealand

A dynamic simulation model for possum and gorse control on a farm woodlot

Managers of farm woodlots in New Zealand are confronted by two major problems: possums and gorse. If these remain uncontrolled then they have a severe impact on the returns from farm woodlots. This paper presents a system dynamics model which has been developed to assist in the analysis of control measures for managing gorse and possums on a farm woodlot in the Makara Valley, Wellington. The model has four main sectors: a tree growth module for radiata pine; a growth module for gorse; a module for the stock of possums present in the habitat; and a module of financial indicators. A number of control experiments are presented which indicate the long term financial and physical consequences of different gorse and possum control measures. The model clearly demonstrates the complex nature of the dynamic behaviour of a system involving biological and environmental factors (ie possums, gorse and trees) and human intervention (in terms of silviculture, and possum and gorse control)

Freight transport industry in New Zealand

This paper focuses on the domestic freight industry in New Zealand. It reviews the geographical basis and historical development of freight transport. The supply and demand factors of the freight industry are then discussed. The individual rail, road, coastal shipping, and domestic air modes are also reviewed. Competition between these modes is covered. The paper concludes with an overview of some of the major policy issues facing the freight transport industry in New Zealand. These policy issues relate to the environment, safety, road pricing, marine transport taxation and labour relations

Determinants of contractor satisfaction

Performance in the construction industry is increasingly scrutinized as a result of the delays, cost overruns and poor quality of the industry’s products and services. Increasingly, disputes, conflicts and mismatches of objectives among participants are contributory factors. Performance measurement approaches have been developed to overcome these problems. However, these approaches focus primarily on objective measures to the exclusion of subjective measures, particularly those concerning contractor satisfaction (Co-S). The contractor satisfaction model (CoSMo) developed here is intended to rectify the situation. Data derived from a questionnaire survey of 75 large contractors in Malaysia in respect of a key project are analysed to identify participant factors and their strength of relationship with Co-S dimensions. The results are presented in the form of eight regression equations. The outcome is a tool for use by project participants to provide a better understanding of how they, and the project, affect contractor satisfaction. The developed model sheds some light on a hitherto unknown aspect of construction management in providing an increased awareness of the importance of major Malaysian construction contractors’ needs in the execution of successful projects

Driving pro-environmental change in tourist destinations: encouraging sustainable travel in National Parks via partnership project creation and implementation

© 2016 Taylor & Francis. This paper explores a key challenge in introducing more sustainable transport practices at destinations: achieving modal shift in visitor travel from cars to physically active or public transport to reduce tourism's environmental impacts. It centres on using partnership led projects bringing together the many public and private sector organisations involved, to drive destination change and development. To date, research has centred on pro-environmental change for individuals and individual organisations: little is known about the mechanisms of pro-environmental change via complex multi-partner organisations. The paper reports research into the processes involved in successful projects to provide alternatives to car travel in three UK National Parks by using partnerships to obtain funding and implement change. Based on case studies informed by in-depth interviews with key stakeholders involved in pro-environmental change implementation, narratives are analysed to explain the change process, and mapped against existing literature and theories of change. Conclusions show the role of inspired individuals, supportive senior management, strong governance, better visitor experiences and, most significantly, communication and communication of the benefits of change to stakeholders. The research suggests why and how change occurs in partnerships, contributes to better theories of change and offers guidance on understanding and implementing change processes worldwide

Managing the plantation forests in New Zealand

SIGLELD:D46919/83 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Integration, contextualisation and continuity: three themes for the development of effective music teacher education programs

[Abstract]: This paper reports the findings of a study exploring early-career music teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of their pre-service teacher education programs in Queensland, Australia. It also explores influences impacting upon early-career music teachers’ perceptions of effectiveness and early-career music teachers’ perceived needs in relation to their pre-service preparation. Findings suggest that pre-service teachers perceive a need for teacher education courses to be contextualised, integrated and allow for the continual development of knowledge and skills throughout their early years in schools. This research provides an empirical basis for reconceptualising music teacher education courses and raises important issues that music teacher educators need to address in order to ensure that graduates are adequately prepared for classroom music teaching

Validation in soft OR, Hard OR and system dynamics: a critical comparison and contribution to the debate

This paper deals with the validation ideas of three fields, namely hard OR, soft OR, and system dynamics. Validation is an important, yet a very controversial, issue on model based fields. Even though everyone seems to agree that the validation of models must be assessed, the viewpoints on what validation is and how it should be established differ widely. The purpose of this paper is to (a) describe the similarities and differences (both within and between) the three fields (b) to provide explanations for the differences, in order to (c) create mutual awareness and understanding, and (d) to increase our understanding of the issues surrounding validation. We will first start with the validation opinions of the three fields and then describe and explain the differences in these opinions and their reasons