Freight Information Gathering System

The Ministry of Transport has developed the Freight Information Gathering System to provide an overview of freight movements around New Zealand, including containerised freight, rail freight, and bulk coastal freight.

The Freight Information Gathering System builds on information currently provided by Statistics New Zealand while making valuable new information on freight movements available for the first time.

Reports are released four times each year, and follow a consistent collection methodology to allow for tracking movements and trends across time.

Reports contain data from New Zealand’s ten largest container ports; Ports of Auckland , Port of Tauranga , Port Taranaki , Port of Napier , Port Nelson , CentrePort , Lyttelton Port of Christchurch , PrimePort Timaru , Port Otago and South Port .

Rail data has been provided by KiwiRail , and shows nationwide freight movements by region and by commodity, in both tonnes and tonne-kilometres.

Oil carried by coastal shipping is also included in the quarterly reports, and movements since 2009 are displayed to allow for the following of trends.

For any FIGS enquiries please email figs@transport.govt.nz.

Latest FIGS report

Freight Information Gathering System report - April 2015 to March 2016~~Freight Information Gathering System report - January to December 2015~~

Freight Information Gathering System report data - April 2015 to March 2016~~Freight Information Gathering System report data - January to December2015~~

View previous quarterly reports

2015 Transport and Trade report

Read the Transport and trade report here

Supplementary report

Empty container movements - June 2015

Empty container movements - December 2014

FIGS data

Data tables March 2016~~Data tables December 2015~~

Quarterly container handling statistics

Questions and answers about the Freight Information Gathering System

What is the Freight Information Gathering System (FIGS)?

The Freight Information Gathering System (FIGS) project was launched by the Ministry of Transport in 2010 to collect information relating to freight movements into, out of and around New Zealand. The FIGS project was established in response to the lack of reliable, consistently collected data related to freight movements in New Zealand.

What is the purpose of the data gathered by FIGS?

The productivity commission has identified a lack of reliable, consistently collected data about freight movements as an impediment to informed decision making by government. FIGS aims to rectify this deficit.

FIGS will also allow for long-term tracking of freight movements, and provide data for modelling potential changes in freight movements, including inter-modal shifts, port concentration, and bigger or higher productivity vehicles.

What information does FIGS provide?

FIGS is designed to provide a detailed understanding of cargo traffic to provide a better picture of freight movements in New Zealand. Currently, this data extends to coastal, rail, and import and export movements. Across modes, the information available extends to commodity type, movement type (e.g. import, transhipment, domestic movement), and origin-destination data by region.

The FIGS reports provide a detailed understanding of freight movements in the New Zealand context. The data available from the FIGS project is consolidated so it will not reveal information that is confidential or commercially sensitive. For this reason, the report is able to be publicly accessible.

How will this information be used?

The information from FIGS will be available to be used in a broad range of situations. One of the main purposes for which FIGS data will be used is to support fully-informed policy and planning decisions at both central and local government level. The information provided by FIGS will allow infrastructure and planning decisions to be based on robust, reliable and consistent data, and be a credible source of information for officials to use.

Who are the main parties involved in FIGS and what are their roles?

Government - The Ministry of Transport is the government department responsible for developing and maintaining the FIGS project.

Statistics New Zealand provides quarterly trade data on all international freight movements.

Information Technology - During the establishment of the FIGS project in 2010, ECN Group Limited (ECN) were tasked with the responsibility of providing a solution to collect the relevant data from participating ports, to consolidate it and provide it to the Ministry.

Container Ports – All ten container ports in New Zealand are feeding data into the FIGS system. These are; Ports of Auckland , Port of Tauranga , Port Taranaki , Port of Napier , Port Nelson , CentrePort , Lyttelton Port of Christchurch , PrimePort Timaru , Port Otago and South Port . Port productivity data is also obtained from Ports of Auckland, Port of Tauranga, Port of Napier, CentrePort, Lyttelton Port of Christchurch and Port Otago.

Rail – KiwiRail provides information about all rail movements.

Bulk Coastal – Coastal Oil Logistics Limited provides coastal oil shipments. Coastal Oil Logistics arrange shipping on behalf of Z Energy New Zealand, Chevron New Zealand, BP New Zealand and Mobil Oil New Zealand.

What are the next steps for FIGS?

The Ministry of Transport is currently working with road freight companies to look at expanding FIGS to road freight. Work is also being done on completing the bulk coastal picture.

How does FIGS compare with similar systems used internationally?

Several other countries internationally use systems similar to New Zealand’s FIGS project, including Australia. Unlike New Zealand, Australia’s freight information gathering system is a mandatory, legally enforceable requirement on the ports. There are no plans to make FIGS mandatory in New Zealand.

Being a smaller, remote country, New Zealand has a unique and evolving maritime freight system that differentiates it from other countries and, accordingly, the specifications and requirements of our freight information system has some variations with our international peers.

Who can use the FIGS information?

As the data will be consolidated so no commercially sensitive information will be revealed, the quarterly container information report will be publically accessible through the Ministry’s website. This allows the information to be used by a range of people, including the media, and those involved in academic research.

Who owns the data?

The data provided by for FIGS belongs to the ports, and cannot be released at record level by the Ministry of Transport without the permission of the ports. The Ministry of Transport is responsible for producing the quarterly container information report and making it available to the public through publication on the Ministry website.

Download previous FIGs reports