25/11/2019
Nelson Update
After a mild winter, summer is quickly on it’s way to New Zealand’s South Island. Nelson is enjoying glorious sunshine, warm temperatures and moderate to light winds. It’s an excellent time of year to be at the Top of New Zealand's Magnificent South Island!
Last year New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) adopted new biosecurity guidelines for visiting pleasure craft and commercial ships. Our recently adopted biosecurity regulations are some of the most stringent in the world and were put in place to protect New Zealand's fragile marine ecosystem. Yacht Services New Zealand applauds MPI for making this bold move and fully supports New Zealand’s new biosecurity guidelines.
New Zealand's Ports of First Arrival.
When New Zealand’s new biosecurity regulations were adopted each of New Zealand’s existing Ports of First Arrival were required to meet certain criteria to retain their status as a Port of First Arrival (POFA) for commercial shipping and pleasure craft. Several of New Zealand’s ports met the challenge and retained their status as a New Zealand POFA however many did not. Nelson was one of the New Zealand Ports that did not attempt to comply with MPI’s new regulations for pleasure craft and, as a result, Nelson lost its status as a POFA. While it is not possible for pleasure craft arriving from overseas to check into Nelson it is possible for pleasure craft departing New Zealand to check out of Nelson.
Loosing our POFA status was devastating for many local small businesses that cater to arriving overseas pleasure craft. However, and despite this set back, we are happy to report that steps are being taken to regain Nelson’s status as a New Zealand POFA. While we feel Nelson will eventually regain its status as a POFA progress on this initiative has been and continues to be incredibly slow.
Our first contact regarding re-establishing Nelson’s status as a POFA was with MPI and our second contact was with Nelson City Council (NCC). One would think working with a government Ministry would be slow but MPI surprised us. Within hours of receiving our email communication MPI responded. During the weeks following our initial contact and during meetings with the MPI manager in charge of POFA we learned about New Zealand's new biosecurity initiatives, the reasoning behind them and steps necessary for Nelson to regain it’s status as a POFA. MPI officials went further and offered to assist, where and if necessary, in the development of an application for Nelson to regain status as a POFA. In our experience we have never encountered a government organisation responding as quickly and positively as MPI.
After meeting with MPI we contacted individuals working for NCC. These individuals are responsible for Nelson’s Marina, biosecurity and infrastructure in the Nelson Region. The purpose our meeting request was to report on our discussions with MPI and explore ways to regain Nelson's status as a POFA. One big difference between working with MPI and individuals working for Nelson’s City Council are the priorities of each organisation. MPI has a national responsibility and the division we met with are primarily focused on biosecurity standards in Ports of First Arrival nationwide. They responded to our communication straightaway. Individuals we met with at NCC work for local government, have many regional priorities and it made sense to us that it might take a little longer to respond. However, months go by before responses are received from NCC making any progress on the re-establishment of Nelson’s status as a POFA painfully slow. Irrespective of slow progress we will continue working with local government until positive results are achieved.
Nelson's Marine Industry: Open for Business!
It is a well known fact that many excellent boat builders, painters, sail makers, rigging professionals, mechanics, electricians, composite and metal fabricators can be found throughout New Zealand. What sets Nelson apart from many of our “sister ports” on the North Island and elsewhere are our labour rates. Hands down we, in Nelson, are capable of delivering the same or better quality services at much lower labour rates than can be found in many other New Zealand Ports. Consider this, if a project on your boat requires 50 hours to complete you could potentially save NZ$500 to NZ$750 or more in labour costs alone by having the work done by a marine industry professional in Nelson. Why is this the case? Because we want your business.
The Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough Regions of New Zealand offer some of the most spectacular scenery, outdoor activities and marine industry professionals as you’ll find anywhere in this great country full stop. This is the simple truth.
Until Nelson regains its status as a POFA go ahead, check into one of New Zealand’s many existing POFAs then contact us about your project or come to Nelson and discuss it with us. You won’t be disappointed.
Fair winds and Following Seas,
John
