PORT OF TAURANGA’s patience is again being tested with news the resources consent granted early last month for its Stella Passage expansion project has been appealed.
On 7 September the project was approved under the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024, subject to conditions, and immediately welcomed by PoT chief financial officer Simon Kebbell.
“The Stella Passage development is vital strategic infrastructure to support future freight growth for New Zealand. It will improve the resilience and efficiency of the international supply chain and lower costs for importers and exporters,” Mr Kebbell said at the time.
“The development is urgently needed so it is a great relief to reach this important milestone.”
However, the decision was subject to appeal rights under the Fast-track Approvals Act, and PoT chief executive Leonard Sampson said today [2 October] the port had been notified the consent has been appealed by tangata whenua parties; an appeal and a judicial review application have been sought so far.
Mr Sampson said the appeals were disappointing but not unexpected. “The urgency of this project is unchanged, and we will be seeking the earliest possible court hearing,” he said.
The Stella Passage development involves extending the Sulphur Point container berth by 385 metres (in two stages) and the Mount Maunganui wharves by 315 metres, by converting existing cargo storage land within the port’s current footprint.
It also involves associated reclamation of the land behind the new wharves and dredging of the passage.
There is considerable irony in the ‘fast track approval’ of a project, aspect of which were first proposed 24 years ago and envisaged well before that. The current version has been repeatedly bogged down in red tape, environmental and resource consents legal challenges.
In mid-April last year PoT lodged an application under NZ’s Fast-track Approvals Act 2024 in an effort to overcome delays in the environmental approvals process.
However, PoT in August 2025 reported that a judicial review of the port’s application for the Stella Passage development had been upheld, with the High Court determining that the Environmental Protection Authority should not have accepted the port’s application as the project was not as described in schedule 2 of the legislation.
The Judge’s decision agreed that whilst it may have been left out by mistake, there was no discretion, and the EPA should not have accepted the application based of the current wording in the schedule of the legislation.
DCN understands PoT has offered a not insignificant sum in settlement of claims but iwi are seeking millions of dollars more, and there are potentially more than 20 claimants.