Marsden Point

Marsden Point is a head of the Whangarei Harbour, near Whangarei, New Zealand, lying close to the northern tip of Bream Bay. It is also a major industrial area, containing Marsden Point Oil Refinery, the country's only such facility, and two large defunct power plant stations (Marsden A and Marsden B). Marsden Bay is immediately to the west of Marsden Point.

Port and rail plans

Since the 1970s, there have been proposals to expand the harbour facilities and build the Marsden Point Branch, a branch line railway from the North Auckland Line to serve Marsden Point's current economic interests as well as a proposed deepwater harbour. As of 2007, land acquisition to establish a corridor for the line is under way. The associated harbour (which would also require substantial investment into new container cranes) is being proposed as an alternative to smaller facilities throughout New Zealand. According to the Marsden Point backers, these should be rationalised into fewer, more cost-effective hub ports. In comparison with, for example, Ports of Auckland in its constrained Auckland CBD location, the Marsden Point port would also have much free land for expansion.