Associate Tourism Minister Nicky Wagner today announced a funding boost of more than $2 million for safety improvements on four Great Rides in Waikato, East Coast, Hawke’s Bay and West Coast.
The funding is part of a $25 million investment announced in Budget 2016 to further enhance and extend the Great Rides of Nga Haerenga, the New Zealand Cycle Trail.
“The Great Rides are such a fantastic resource — not only are they a fun and healthy way for Kiwis to enjoy the outdoors, but they’re also a means of attracting high-value visitors to our regions,” Ms Wagner says.
“The Government is committed to continually improving the trails for everyone’s benefit. That’s why we’ve allocated this funding to seven safety projects across four trails.”
The trails are:
In addition, $469,000 has been granted through the Maintaining the Quality of Great Rides Fund to help the Alps 2 Ocean and the Clutha Gold trails repair damage caused by the heavy rainfall and flooding in late July.
For more information, visit: http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/tourism/nga-haerenga-new-zealand-cycle-trail
| A Beehive release || September 14, 2017 |||
Emirates is set to introduce a fourth daily service between Sydney and Dubai from March 25, 2018, complementing its existing three daily A380 services.
The new service will be operated by Emirates’ iconic A380 aircraft and will increase passenger capacity on the route by 6,846 seats a week, inbound and outbound between Sydney and Emirates’ hub in Dubai, and represents a 7.3% increase in capacity for Emirates’ Australian services.
It also builds on Emirates’ partnership with Qantas, meeting continued demand for services to Dubai and complementing Qantas’ re-routing of its current Sydney to London service via Singapore (instead of Dubai).
From Auckland Emirates has three daily A380 services to Dubai – non-stop, via Melbourne and via Brisbane – and also a daily A380 flight from Christchurch.
Emirates’ new Sydney-Dubai service will offer passengers an afternoon departure from Sydney and a convenient arrival in main European cities the following morning. It also introduces a new option for passengers to depart London and main European cities in the morning with an afternoon arrival in Sydney the next day with a short connection in Dubai.
Emirates customers will also be able to enjoy seamless “A380 to A380” connections to 48 destinations within Emirates’ global network via its hub in Dubai.
Earlier this year Emirates announced plans to enhance its Australian services, with a third daily service set to be introduced between Dubai and Brisbane from 1 December 2017 and operated by a B777-200LR. Emirates will also upgauge its third daily flight between Dubai and Melbourne from a B777-300ER to an A380 from 25 March 2018. This change will ensure all three of Emirates’ daily flights to Melbourne will be serviced by A380 aircraft.
All passengers can enjoy over 2,500 channels on Emirates’ award-winning inflight entertainment system ice, gourmet food and wine across all classes and generous baggage allowances. Emirates recently improved its onboard connectivity with up to 20MB of complementary onboard Wi-Fi.
Between 26 March to 31 March 2018, the outbound service EK417 will depart Sydney at 17:05, arriving in Dubai at 00:25 the following day. Due to daylight saving changes from 1 April, the outbound service EK417 will depart Sydney 16:15, arriving the same time the following day. All services will be operated by an A380 aircraft.
Between 25 March and 30 March 2018, the inbound service EK416 will depart Dubai at 20:40, arriving in Sydney at 17:20 the following day. Due to daylight saving changes from 31 March 2018, the arrival time changes to 16:30 the following day.
The A380 aircraft offers 489 seats in a three-class cabin configuration with 14 private suites in First Class, 76 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 399 spacious seats in Economy.
| An emirates release || September 14, 2017 |||
FreshPlaza - Sep 13, 2017 | What is expected to be the first of many shipments of tamarillo pulp has left Whangarei en route to a US-based food producer and distributor.
NZ Tamarillo Co-operative recently finalised a major deal with its produce destined to join Serious Foodie's product line as New Zealand Tamarillo Grill Sauce & Marinade and New Zealand Tamarillo Vinegar.
Serious Foodie sells online, through farmers' markets and is distributed into gourmet supermarkets and stores across the US and Canada.
More shipments will follow with the pulp from tamarillos grown in the North by the five orchards in the NZ Tamarillo Co-operative processed into pulp and vinegar concentrate here and then sent to the US in bulk.
Maungatapere based co-operative director/manager Robin Nitschke said he and other members of the Tamarillo Co-operative had been working on the deal for two and a half years and are delighted to have reached another milestone.
The co-operative was established three years ago to have more influence at the beginning of the supply chain by channelling all fruit through one merchant and to provide more choices to add value to the fruit at the end of the supply chain.
"So it is rewarding to finally achieve this milestone," Mr Nitschke said. "The importer tells me that feedback on our tamarillo products from customers in the States is very encouraging, with the potential for rapid growth into the specialty food sector".
Mr Nitschke said that after gaining recognition last year as finalists in the Artisan Food Awards, supermarkets, specialty food outlets and food service companies have been stocking the co-operative's products.
| A FreshPlaza release || September 13, 2017 |||
With technology being predicted to become New Zealand's number one exporting sector, the time has come to set out the vision. CEO of the Centre for Advanced Engineering and author of the recently released book Innovate! Richard Bentley shares his thoughts on how we can speed up the process with Idealog.
Professor Shaun Hendy (9 August) commented on the slow progress New Zealand has made toward the development of a technology-based exporting sector. As he reflected, the occasional successful start-up is not nearly enough.
In my recent book Innovate! , I present a detailed analysis of the state of our fifteen export-focused sectors, their prospects for growth, current thinking on being innovative and how our government supports exporters.
I find that amongst our advanced manufacturing sector we have a number of sophisticated exporters like Buckley Systems and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, and that there is an emerging group of exciting businesses. However, the new paradigm amongst wealthy nations is to be preeminent in advanced manufacturing - as manufacturing especially has extensive spillovers to the wider economy. As a consequence, new manufacturing technologies and processes are appearing, markets are becoming more competitive, and large multinational companies are adapting their businesses to tackle the very niche markets that our companies supply.
We also have exciting but unrealised opportunities in medical technologies, ICT, textiles, and in minerals developments, but our manufactured food, agritechnology and biotechnology sectors are fragmented and underperform. Thus our emerging technology-based economy has the feel of still being in start – up mode, and this seems to be reflected in recent data that shows exports as a percentage of GDP slowly falling, why the government’s often stated goal of doubling exports has been quietly dropped, and why our productivity remains so low.
So how do we address this challenge? The wealthy countries of the OECD are proactive in developing innovative, competitive and growing technology-based economies. They create environments where businesses grow through easy access to science and technology, where businesses work together and collaborate as opportunities emerge, and where resources are focused on science and technology development and transfer that’s good for business development.
In contrast, and since the 1980’s deregulation of our economy, our governments have adopted a passive approach to developing an innovative economy and to the development of business. This is why we have very poor interactions between business and researchers, and very few business facing centres of technology. This dysfunctionality, which I call the technology vacuum, was first revealed in the authoritative report Powering Innovation way back in 2011, as Shaun noted, and there has been no attempts to remedy the situation. Compounding the situation has been the collapse of the manufacturing - focused CRI Industrial Research Limited from low sales.
Paradoxically, we have a superb science system, led by the universities and the Centres of Research Excellence (the CoREs), and we have numerous world class scientists. However, nearly all the science research vote continues to be allocated to university scientists on the basis of best science and not to research needs informed by business.
Government, having stripped itself of all its technology capability, needs to form a new Innovation Council comprising the universities, business and NZTE, to look into the situation in each of our fifteen important export sectors and to work out how government could assist them better. Each has its own issues and opportunities. These initiatives will give businesses better access to the science and technology capability in our universities, they will create environments that encourage more coordination, collaboration and innovation between export businesses, and they will deliver OECD type energised innovative environments.
My preference, set out in detail in Innovate!, is to create a network of university-based technology hubs, effectively a technology – focused business facing version of the CoRE network. They would be wholly funded by government and established for example in robotics and sensing, IT for manufacturing, cyber technologies, technical textiles, agritechnology, and advanced food, to name only a few areas to illustrate. These are the technologies that underpin the development of a competitive exporting sector. I would scrap the R&D grant system as it does not create innovative firms or innovative collaborative sectors, and I would put these funds into the network. The hubs would also become the place where businesses within sectors meet, collaborate, agree sector strategies and inform research needs as occurs at the Auckland University - hosted Product Accelerator. And I would collapse the economically focussed CRIs and Callaghan Innovation into this network.
Governments create innovative economies not markets. A step change in effort by our government is required to bring Sir Paul Callaghan’s dream of a sophisticated significant technology-based export sector to a reality and to reduce our dependence on commodity agriculture exports and tourism.
Richard Bentley (CNZM) has worked in New Zealand industry and in the science and innovation system for nearly four decades – see his website. Innovate! Transforming New Zealand’s technology-based economy was published in August 2017 by Steele Roberts, Wellington.
| An IDEALOG article | September 13, 2017 |||
The exciting Kia Stinger will provide the power and rear-wheel-drive attributes that have become increasingly scarce following the local demise of two other large sedans. It will reinvent the segment with a thoroughly modern and desirable package.
With 365hp (272kW) of peak power and 510Nm of torque available from the twin-turbocharged V6 engine in the flagship GT Sport model, the new Kia has power to burn – it can rocket to 100km/h in less than 5 seconds.The sporty 5-door liftback styling also has the power to turn heads, benefitting from the award winning design prowess of Kia Motors’ Chief Designer, Peter Schreyer and his team.
“The new Stinger will lift Kia into a different league – this is a car with the X-factor,” says Todd McDonald, General Manager of Kia Motors New Zealand.“You haven’t seen a Kia like this before. Stinger has the power to surprise in any number of ways, not least through its rear-wheel-drive architecture, which will stamp it as a true driver’s car.”
The new Stinger will launch in New Zealand with three models, including the very highly-specified twin-turbo V6 as a sporting GT, priced from a recommended $69,990 plus on road costs. The two other models will be powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder engine developing 259hp (193kW) peak power and 353Nm of torque that also drives through the rear wheels and can propel the car to 100km/h in 6 seconds. These models will have recommended retail prices of $54,990 plus on road costs for the EX Turbo and $59,990 plus on-road costs for the GT Line.
All models have a brand new 8-speed automatic transmission with sports settings. Quad exhausts add a further note of sportiness.
Mr McDonald says each version of the Stinger will be exceptionally well equipped, including leather interior, paddle shift gear changes, Autonomous Emergency Braking, Smart Cruise Control, LED headlights and much more. Launch plans are currently in hand and Mr McDonald says Kia expects to announce further details soon.
|A Kia Motors release || September 14, 2017 |||
For more information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. from The Car Company Kia distributors in New Zealand
Trade Minister Todd McClay says he expects the NZ-European Union Free Trade Agreement to be formally launched later this year after the European Commission and New Zealand both finalised their respective negotiating mandates.
“It’s extremely important the European Commission and New Zealand have completed this next step,” Mr McClay says.
“European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker also announced tonight in his ‘State of the Union’ address that he is seeking approval to launch negotiations and aims to conclude the NZ-EU FTA by late 2019.”
“An FTA will give New Zealand companies an opportunity to significantly increase trade with the EU.”
“Two-way trade with the EU is worth more than $20 billion a year and creates thousands of jobs and opportunities for every region and city of New Zealand.”
Mr McClay says the Bill English-led Government will be pushing for a high-quality, comprehensive FTA.
“More than 8500 jobs are created in New Zealand by every billion dollars of exports,” Mr McClay says.
“That means a deal with the EU that increases trade has the potential to create thousands more jobs for Kiwis.”
The European Commission will now send its negotiating mandate to the European Council. Approval is expected later this year.
| A Beehive release || September 13, 2017 |||
Tidal wave of small businesses set to exit in next 10 years
Windflow Technology calls time on turbine manufacturing, sells UK assets to biggest shareholder
New Antarctic Science Platform announced
Steel & Tube names director Mark Malpass, ex-Fletcher, as interim CEO
EU seeks Australia, New Zealand trade deals by 2019 - Juncker
NZ puts $16m into Australia's Synchrotron
Z Energy publishes margin data in ongoing battle with government over prices
Hutt chippy named lower North Island's top carpentry apprentice
Monaco oil and gas company competes for NZOG's hand
Next Manawatū Gorge rock fall could be 170 times larger than two previous slips
McClay – NZ-EU FTA to be fast-tracked
Otago farmer, Greg Lovett and engineer Peter Lynn create wing to stabilise irrigators in high winds
BISON, a specialist developer of container technology, will showcase a new, world-first portable system for lifting containers at the IANA Intermodal EXPO in California on 18 and 19 September.
The BISON C-Lift was launched in August with, claims the company, widespread interest from the USA.
Recognising that conventional container handling equipment is typically big, heavy and expensive, New Zealand-based BISON says its “compact, portable and more economic alternative equips importers, exporters and project logistics operators to lift heavy containers on and off chassis in any location”. It says that first units are now being shipped to the Middle East, South America and Europe.
“Intermodal USA is the perfect event for showcasing the C-Lift,” says BISON CEO Greg Fahey. “We’re looking forward to meeting people in North America’s intermodal industry and discussing how our unique lifting equipment can open new possibilities for container freight and logistics there.”
Alongside the C-Lift, BISON will have its popular range of portable container weighing scales on display at Booth 911.
Intermodal USA is the world-leading exhibition and conference for companies associated with the container and intermodal industries, covering all areas of container transport and logistics across road, rail and sea. More than 125 companies across 70+ product categories will exhibit at this year’s event, bringing together high-quality speakers, exhibitors and decision makers from all over the world.
| A LogisticsBusiness release || September 13, 2017 |||
Victorian go-kart designer wows judges with a contemporary-yet-classic frame design
And the winner is…Ben Murphy.Victorian go-kart designer Ben Murphy has won the first stage of the Electric Superbike Project competition (www.theelectricsuperbike.com.au). The first stage of the competition – the frame design – attracted more than 100 registrations, and Murphy’s entry was chosen from a shortlist of three that included Victorian Chris Peters and Simon Teed from Queensland.
As the winner of this stage, Murphy walks away with a beefy HP Z200 Workstation courtesy of competition sponsor Hewlett Packard Australia, and the opportunity to work with some of the leading figures in the automotive design industry to refine his frame design before manufacture.
The Electric Superbike Project is a community-based competition run by specialist 3D computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology distributor, Intercad, in conjunction with Triple Eight Race Engineering and Racetech Steel. The goal of the project is to involve aspiring and professional designers across Australia and New Zealand to collaboratively design, test and build a state-of-the-art electric superbike using SolidWorks, the industry-standard CAD/CAM software platform.
Once the motorbike is complete, the final design will be road tested by racing great and TeamVodafone’s V8 Supercar Championship driver Craig Lowndes. The bike will then be auctioned off to the highest bidder with all proceeds going to Red Dust Role Models, a non-profit organisation seeking to improve the health and wellbeing of disadvantaged youth living in remote communities.
Max Piper, CEO, Intercad, says the enthusiasm and innovation shown by the design community has exceeded all expectations, and bodes well for the rest of the competition which still has several months to run.
“This is a unique opportunity for the design, engineering and racing communities to come together and impart their skills and resources for a worthy cause,” says Piper. “The pride shown by the competition entrants and the high level of skill and innovation evident in their first stage designs is testament to the strength of the Australian and New Zealand design community.”
Murphy’s design of a classic tube-steel motorbike frame won over the three competition judges with its attention to detail, practical material choices and innovative simplicity. Speaking of his win, Murphy – who works for go-kart manufacturer Drew Price Engineering – humbly says it was his wife who first brought the competition to his attention.
“My wife received an email from Intercad about this new motorbike design project, and knowing how crazy I was about racing bikes, she sent it to me immediately,” he says. “I’ve spent around 200 hours since then working on the frame design in my spare time, using a trial license of SolidWorks that Intercad was kind enough to supply me with. It was easy to get up and running with the software, which made it possible for me to start right away, browse the material libraries, and define the basic concept of the frame, which was then shortlisted and further refined with the positive feedback from the judges.”
Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Drawing Office Manager, Ian Drapier, says Murphy’s design is “the most thorough and better integrated” of the shortlisted designs. “I like the fact that he has adopted the principle of keeping the frame to a minimum and using the bodywork for seating, and also the way he has tried to use the battery compartment as part of the chassis,” says Drapier.
“There are some nicely machined components mounting the housings to the frame, and while the frame is of fairly basic construction, on the plus side it will be easy to manufacture and cost effective, especially since Racetech Steel is a main sponsor for the project.”
“My starting point was the material,” adds Murphy. “It made sense to use Racetech Steel’s chrome moly tubes for the frame, not only because they are so closely associated with the competition, but because I’m familiar with their products and they have the quality and strength I wanted. Chrome moly tubes are strong enough to allow me to reduce the wall thickness and make the frame lighter. I considered alternative exotics such as carbon fibre and titanium, and while they certainly have their advantages, from a practical sense it would make the bike more expensive and difficult to build, and wouldn’t necessarily meet Australian Design Rules.”
Competition organiser and fellow judge, Intercad’s National Product Manager, Julian Spencer, says the winning design shows Murphy paid close attention to the practical physical attributes of the frame, using SolidWorks’12 decimal point accuracy to minimise weight at every point, but maintain optimal rigidity.
“Every component of the motorbike will be designed and evaluated in the same way, and when the final design is complete, the bike will be machined directly from the SolidWorks drawings,” he says. “This is how a community of SolidWorks users can collaborate on a physical product, with parts sourced from different regions of Australia and New Zealand, even though the community itself spans thousands of kilometres across two countries.”
The next stage of the competition focuses on the drivetrain and wheels. Timelines for entries – along with the final approved SolidWorks drawings of Murphy’s frame design – will be announced on The Electric Superbike blog in the coming weeks.
Murphy is passionate about design, 3D solid modelling and the racing industry and has combined his interests on his blog, BergerHaus Designs.
| A PRPressWire release || September 13, 2017 |||
ASX-listed Pro-Pac Packaging, chaired by former Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour, has announced a $177.5 million merger deal with flexible packager Integrated Packaging Group (IPG).
‘Significant milestone’: Pro-Pac chairman Ahmed Fahour
“The acquisition of IPG represents a significant milestone in the realization of Pro-Pac’s vision to become the preeminent flexible and industrial packaging manufacturer and distributor in Australia,” said Fahour. “The opportunity to combine two very complementary businesses will deliver significant long-term value to Pro-Pac shareholders.”
The combined business will have annual sales of more than $450 million.
The merger will be funded through a combination of $60 million Pro-Pac shares issued to the vendors, a $54.8 million fully underwritten equity raising and $70 million from a new debt facility, the company told the ASX in its announcement.
Pro-Pac has distribution facilities in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide as well as six manufacturing sites, providing flexible and rigid packaging solutions.
Integrated Packaging Group, formerly owned by private equity firm Advent Partners, operates five manufacturing facilities across Australia and New Zealand, providing a wide range of stretch plastic film used to wrap consumer goods, building products and agricultural products.
The new entity will operate 22 distribution warehouses and manufacturing facilities in Australasia.
Pro-Pac CEO Grant Harrod, who will head the merged group, says the combination of Pro-Pac and IPG provides “many exciting opportunities” in the growing Australian flexibles packaging market.
“Pro-Pac’s expanded capacity to manufacture and distribute high quality products will delight our customer base and provide us with a one-stop-shop offering. Pro-Pac will be a world class manufacturer without geographic constraints as we increase our offerings in key areas such as food service and agriculture film.”
The deal is conditional on Pro-Pac shareholder approval, the completion of the $54.8 million raising and conditions related to the debt facility.
Pro-Pac last month reported a five percent fall in FY17 revenue to $229 million, with profit after tax diving 28 percent to $5.02 million.
Former Australian Post CEO Fahour has been chairman of Pro-Pac since 2015.
| A Print-21 release || September 13, 2017 |||
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