Sealegs signals global expansion plans with new name
Alliance established to rebuild Kaikoura coastal route
KiwiRail cans electric trains on partially electrified North Island trunkline, goes with diesel
Sealegs wins injunction against rival system
NZ dollar briefly drops below 69 US cents as weaker dairy auction results posted
Faultlines: Calls for greater transparency around seismic engineering
Charges filed over ‘made in New Zealand’ claims about NatureBee supplement
Rakon shares soar on buy-in announcement
While you were sleeping: Record rally continues
Southlander oversees trampoline manufacturing in China
Taranaki company breaks into the defence industry with new surf-mapping technology
Sealegs get High Court injunction to protect technology ahead of lawsuit
Northland looks set to be the launching pad for a new global food product.
Cocavo, made from a combination of organic coconut and avocado oils, has just had a "soft launch" in Whangarei and is positioned to fulfil the expectations of its investors who predict it to be this decade's hottest new food item.
The product is a world first, says Cocavo Ltd co-founder and general manager Neville Montefiore.
It was designed to be the ultimate cooking oil giving an extra 5 per cent of flavour and "pizazz" in every dish, he says.
Apart from being lower in saturated fat than regular coconut oil, it has the health benefits of avocado oil, plus all the high heat cooking qualities of both oils.
"The taste is very appealing and lends itself to a wide variety of cooking styles," Mr Montefiore said.
Cocavo, which is set to reach full production by next month, has attracted interest from celebrity chef Simon Gault who earlier this month, through his The Five Percent company, bought a minority holding in the business.
| Continue to full article | Dec 21, 2016 |
Air New Zealand will split its Tokyo services between Haneda and Narita Airports from July next year, offering customers two points of entry into Japan’s capital city.
Air New Zealand currently operates daily flights to Narita International Airport increasing to 10 times a week over the peak months. From July 2017 the three additional peak services will operate to Haneda Airport, with daily services continuing to Narita.
The Haneda services will depart Auckland on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays utilising the airline’s state of the art Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Air New Zealand also operates a seasonal service between Auckland and the Japanese city of Osaka.
Air New Zealand Chief Revenue Officer Cam Wallace says the direct Auckland-Haneda Tokyo route will offer more choice for customers travelling to and from Japan.
“The new service will be convenient for Kiwis wanting to get to downtown Tokyo and for Japanese tourists looking to visit New Zealand. The mid-afternoon departure from Auckland will enable good connections from regional New Zealand and a similar mid-afternoon arrival time for the inbound flight means tourists will be able to make seamless domestic connections to the rest of New Zealand.
“We look forward to building on our existing services to Japan as tourism continues to grow in both directions, particularly in the coming years with events such as the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Summer Olympics.”
Japan is New Zealand’s fifth largest tourism market with visitor numbers to New Zealand from Japan up 13.8 percent to 97,312 for the year ending October 2016. The number of New Zealanders travelling to Japan also grew in that period – up 15 percent to 32,920 for the year to the end of October.
Tickets are on sale today through travel agents and will also be available for online booking from the end of January 2017.
| A Air New Zealand press release | Dec 21, 2016 |
To rebuild or repair? How to fix earthquake affected structures earmarked for demolition
Many buildings currently slated for removal or rebuild in Christchurch and other earthquake affected geographies could be remediated with the help of proven ground engineering methods developed and tested by Mainmark. AMI Stadium at Lancaster Park is one such example.
| Continue to read the letter here | Dec 14, 2016 |
Santa Urges the World to Forgive
Hi everyone!
Santa’s workshop is running full tilt at this hour but production estimates are behind where they hoped to be by this time.
Elf Bernard said that while the Merry Prankster did no lasting harm to the workshop he did set them behind a bit with his constant pranks over the past month. But elves are so happy that he has been caught it appears they are making up for lost time in fine fashion.
We still have a few days before Santa launches but I’m hearing rumors already that Santa’s workshop will be extending their production beyond launch time. That’s not unusual but it isn’t ideal.
— Elf Ernest
| An update from the North Pole | Dec 20, 2016 |
One of the striking things about New Zealand in recent times has been the deepening disconnect between our traditional security partners, and the trading partners that increasingly underpin our prosperity.
50 years ago security and trade went hand in hand. Then things started to change with the UK joining the EU. NZ had to seek new partners, new arrangements, and new friends.
Things have greatly improved over the last 30 years
Partly thanks to some welcome – though very slow – agricultutal policy reform in the EU and US.
But also due to the opening of massive new markets on our doorstep in Asia which really want, and are prepared to pay good money for, our products.
China’s entry to the WTO was arguably the biggest event in trade policy in last half century – and even overshadows the importance of the NZ/China FTA
The reality of the last 20 years has been the contrast between the closed and protectionist economies of Europe, North America and Japan, and our new trading partners in the east
China and most of Asia (with the exception of India), as well as much of the developing world, are more open to what we want to sell than our traditional friends.
At least in the primary products that still make up for more than half of our exports
Less than 3% of our dairy trade goes to the EU today
And now, to cap it all, our traditional friends, who built the post-war trading system, seem to be losing their appetite for globalisation.
Trump, Brexit, TPP.
So NZ finds itself in a very challenging place. Axis of tension indeed.
The fact of the matter is – we are an increasingly lone voice in advocating trade liberalisation.
We are a ‘shag on the rock’ in the global trading environment.
Even with all the negotiating success NZ has enjoyed, we now have FTAs with markets that cover 52% only of our current exports.
In the dairy world I know best, only 13% of global dairy demand is open to trade in the sense of tariff rates of 10% or less.
So what’s next?
In an uncertain, dynamic and even alarming world, rather than picking friends from one side or the other, NZ will instinctively revert to our traditional and deep-seated preference for multilateral – ideally global – solutions and institutions.
We still love the WTO, despite all the competition from competing regional and international bodies.
We would love to see the WTO make a comeback, ideally with NZ helping that to happen.
I am personally confident that our future will very largely evolve in the context of some sort of open, rules-based multilateral trading frameworks.
But what is not clear is whether these new arrangements will continue to hew quite so strongly to the Bretton Woods institutions and approaches that have provided the foundation of international trade since the second world war – the GATT, the WTO, FTAs themselves.
Or whether we will collectively develop something different. Something perhaps much more Asian in style, and approach. Perhaps something Chinese.
That would be interesting.
This post is an abridged version of a speech delivered to the NZIIA Global Future Conference. Read the whole speech here.
| A TradeWorks Guest Opinion piece from Philip Turner, Director of Global Stakeholder Affairs, Fonterra | Dec 14,2016 |
New Zealand travellers will be able to fly all the way by A380 from Auckland and Christchurch to Morocco from late March next year when Emirates upgrades capacity on the service.
Emirates, voted the World’s Best Airline in the 2016 Skytrax World Airline Awards, announced today that it will operate the first ever commercial Airbus A380 flight to Morocco and North Africa, when it takes the iconic double decker aircraft to Casablanca daily from 26 March 2017.
The airline’s flagship aircraft, which continues to excite travellers and aviation enthusiasts alike, will replace the daily Boeing 777-300ER aircraft currently used on the Dubai-Casablanca route, offering increased seat capacity across all three cabin classes and an enhanced premium product experience.
All five daily Emirates A380 services from New Zealand will provide a direct connection at Dubai with the Casablanca flight.
The switch to the A380 offers a total of 1834 additional seats per week, meeting a growing demand from travellers.
Casablanca has become one Emirates’ most popular destinations, and has seen steady growth since the service launched in March 2002. Passengers travelling on the three-class, 491-seat aircraft, will enjoy spacious cabins and experience a peaceful journey in the world’s quietest long-range jet. They can use the onboard Wi-Fi; indulge in food prepared by international chefs, and be entertained by Emirates’ award-winning ice system which offers over 2,500 channels of inflight entertainment across all cabins.
Emirates is the largest operator of the Airbus A380, and has carried over 65 million passengers on its flagship aircraft since 2008.
So far, Emirates has introduced A380 services to over 45 destinations across its network. Its current fleet of 88 A380s has visited over 64 airports, flew nearly 986 million kilometres, and made 74,263 return flights to date.
| An Emirates release | Dec 21, 2016 |
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242