Northport is a commercial sea

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

Marsden Point Marsden Point is a broad, flat peninsula that is the southern head of the Whangārei Harbour entrance on the east coast of Northland Region, Northland, New Zealand, southeast of the city of Whangārei. It is the location of Marsden Point Oil R ...

, at the entrance to the

Whangārei Harbour Whangārei Harbour is a large harbour on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The harbour stretches from Whangārei City, and the termination of the Hātea River, south east around the Onerahi peninsula and out to the Pacific Ocea ...

in Northland, New Zealand, located next to the

Marsden Point Oil Refinery Marsden Point Oil Refinery was an oil refinery located at Marsden Point, Whangārei, Northland, New Zealand, which operated from 1964 to 2022. It was the only significant oil refinery in New Zealand, and was owned and operated by the New Zealand ...

. It is a naturally deep-water port, with a maximum depth of 14.5 metres. It is the northernmost multi-purpose port in New Zealand, and the closest port to the majority of New Zealand's international markets. It is about 100 km north of the Auckland Northern Motorway, and around 75 nautical miles north of the

Port of Auckland Port of Auckland Limited (POAL), the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the Auckland Council-owned company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities. As the company operates all of the associated fac ...

History

The Northland Harbour Board first proposed a container port at Marsden Point in the 1960s, at which time

Whangārei Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the largest settlement of the Northland Region. It is part of the Whangarei District, created in 1989 from the former Whangarei City, Whangarei County and Hikurangi Town councils to admi ...

was served by Port Whangārei, in the upper harbour near the city. The Northland Port Corporation was formed in 1988 to take over the commercial port assets of the Northland Harbour Board, and it entered a joint venture with Port of Tauranga Ltd in 2000 to establish Northport Limited. Construction of the port at Marsden Point started in October 2000 and the first berth opened in June 2002, with a second berth to open two months later. Port Whangārei closed to commercial shipping in April 2007 when the remaining cargo operations were transferred to Marsden Point. A third berth opened there in October 2007. Northland Port Corporation changed its name to Marsden Maritime Holdings Limited in August 2014.

Operations

The terminal's multipurpose facility caters for a wide range of cargoes and their associated vessel types, including logs, woodchip, veneer, coal, kiwifruit, cement and fertiliser. In 2015, Northport added a mobile container crane. There is also scope to host cruise ship calls. Currently operating on 48 hectares with 570 linear metres of birth, there is extensive storage capacity within the port's existing footprint, which is backed by over 180 hectares of port and commercial-zoned land. Northport has the capability to expand to 70 hectares and up to 1,400 linear metres of berth. In a typical financial year ending June, there are around 271 ship calls and the port handled some 3.4 million revenue tonnes of cargo. The port and ancillary operations support close to 300 employment positions. Northport's marine service provider, North Tugz, currently handles some of the largest ships entering New Zealand waters, for the Marsden Point Oil Refinery. Northport Limited is the port operating company of the port facilities. A second crane was added in early 2020, becoming operational in May 2020. In February 2021, Northport expanded its navigation and crane simulator, with planning options available to other port operators and the New Zealand marine service sector generally.

Marsden Point Branch

In October 2017, the new Labour–

New Zealand First New Zealand First (), commonly abbreviated to NZ First or NZF, is a political party in New Zealand, founded and led by Winston Peters, who has served three times as Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, deputy prime minister. The party has form ...

coalition government announced that it would spend $600 million on rehabilitating the

North Auckland Line The North Auckland Line (designation NAL) is a major section of New Zealand's Rail transport in New Zealand, national rail network, and is made up of the following parts: the portion of track that runs northward from Westfield Junction to Newm ...

and building the

Marsden Point Branch The Marsden Point Branch is a branch line railway, which is to be built in the Northland Region of New Zealand's North Island. It will diverge from the North Auckland Line at Oakleigh, south of Whangārei, and serve Northport at Marsden Poi ...

, the long-proposed rail extension to Northport, at a cost of $200 million, the total works to cost $800 million; and are to carry out a feasibility study on moving the

Ports of Auckland Port of Auckland Limited (POAL), the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the Auckland Council-owned company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities. As the company operates all of the associated fac ...

to Northport.

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician. He has led the political party New Zealand First since he founded it in 1993, and since November 2023 has served as the 25th Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand), ...

and New Zealand First also envisaged that the area around the port could be a tax-free (including duty and GST) '' Special Economic Area'' (zone).

References

{{Reflist Ports and harbours of New Zealand Transport companies of New Zealand Buildings and structures in Whangārei Transport in New Zealand