The country's largest cement supplier says we'll soon have over 500 more trucks on the road every month to move cement across the country. 

They recently requested to use a foreign-flagged vessel with foreign crew to operate for three years while a new vessel was built to replace their outdated M-V Buffalo. 

But this request was declined by the Associate Transport Minister, James Meager. 

He told Ryan Bridge that, "you tend to only give authorizations to carry things for a very short or temporary period, to make up a bit of a gap. And in this instance, it just didn't meet that criteria."

LISTEN ABOVE

The country's largest cement supplier says we'll soon have over 500 more trucks on the road every month to move cement across the country.&nbsp;
They recently requested to use a foreign-flagged vessel with foreign crew to operate for three years while a new vessel was built to replace their outdated M-V Buffalo.&nbsp;
But this request was declined by the Associate Transport Minister, James Meager.&nbsp;
He told Ryan Bridge that, "you tend to only give authorizations to carry things for a very short or temporary period, to make up a bit of a gap. And in this instance, it just didn't meet that criteria."
LISTEN ABOVE

With a straight down the middle approach, Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB delivers the very latest news and views to New Zealanders as they wrap up their day.

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

James Meager: Associate Minister of Transport blocks cement supplier's coastal shipping

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/a38f8cc8-2afe-476e-8387-b3b1005eb593/transcript