Dunedin City Council staff may set up a freight group to look at ways of encouraging companies to carry more freight by rail and sea.
And the encouragement may include financial assistance for those choosing rail or sea over road, although it is unclear how much assistance might be available or where the money might come from.
The idea of the freight group was raised by council transportation planning manager Don Hill in a report to the council's planning and environment committee meeting this week.
The report recommended several additions be made to the council's 2006 transportation strategy to bring the document more into line with the latest national transport strategy.
Rail freight is being promoted within the national transport strategy, and in the previous Labour government's land transport policy statement released last August.
Both documents advocate more freight carried by rail and sea, as those means of transport have less of an impact on the environment than road transport.
Mr Hill said while the city's transportation strategy recognised the importance of promoting rail as an alternative to road, there had been no detailed actions listed at the time about achieving that.
In 2007, Wenita decided to transport logs from Mt Allan, north of Mosgiel, by road because of factors including lack of critical infrastructure (sidings and loading areas) and the higher cost of using rail, he said.
That outcome was "disappointing", Mr Hill said.
"The DCC are keen to be proactive and ensure that this situation is not repeated, if at all possible. The DCC are also keen to work with stakeholders to facilitate the increased use of rail and coastal shipping."
If there was sufficient interest, a cross-district freight group would be established to clarify issues which led to road transport being selected over rail or sea, and to take action to change this where possible.
The council would also work with the Crown to "establish processes that allow speedy and rational decision-making" on financial assistance for projects which chose rail or sea options, he said.
Asked yesterday where financial assistance might come from, Mr Hill said he expected it would be the Crown.
Dr Jane Turnbull, a senior transport policy analyst with the Otago Regional Council, is responsible for the regional land transport strategy, which overarches the strategies of the five local authorities in the region.
She said yesterday the land transport funding manual issued by the previous Government "potentially" enabled companies and others to apply for funding to meet the extra costs of freighting goods by rail instead of by road.
However, the criteria were tight and targeted at one-off projects which would be financially self-sustainable within three years.
The funding criteria ruled out companies like Wenita, which planned to cart logs from Mt Allan for eight or nine years.
She said there were discussions about widening the criteria and making funding easier to obtain, but was unsure whether those discussions would be carried through by the new Government.
The transportation planning sector had been told to expect an announcement within two weeks, she said.
"There could be substantial changes [to the funding manual], or there might not.
"It is absolutely up in the air at the moment."
The interests of trucking companies are looked after by the New Zealand Road Transport Forum.
Chief executive Tony Friedlander said from Wellington yesterday he had heard the new Government was about to issue a replacement land transport policy statement which might not include the previous commitments to financial incentive for rail freight users.
However, the forum was not opposed to Government funding being made available, he said.
"Our view has always been that if the Government wants to subsidise rail freight, we have no objections, provided the money does not come out of the existing roading budget or from transport company levies."
