Marsden Point is a head of the Whangarei Harbour, near Whangarei

Whangarei

Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, lying close to the northern tip of Bream Bay

Bream Bay

Bream Bay is a locality and bay on the east coast of New Zealand. Captain James Cook named this area to the bay itself, but also the some surrounding locations, stretching north to Whangarei and southbound touching Mangawhai....

. It is also a major industrial area, containing Marsden Point Oil Refinery

Marsden Point Oil Refinery

Marsden Point Oil Refinery is located at Marsden Point, Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand. It is the only oil refinery in New Zealand, and is operated by Refining NZ....

, the country's only such facility, and two large defunct power plant stations (Marsden A

Marsden A

Marsden A was a 250MW oil fired power station near the Marsden Point Oil Refinery at Marsden Point, Ruakaka, Northland, New Zealand. It was built in the 1970s, and acted as an emergency reserve power station, serving the load centre of Auckland to the south...

 and Marsden B

Marsden B

Marsden B was an unused 250MW oil fired power station near the Marsden Point Oil Refinery at Marsden Point, Ruakaka, Northland, New Zealand. Due to rising oil prices, the plant was mothballed in 1978 without ever being commissioned...

). Marsden Bay

Marsden Bay, New Zealand

Marsden Bay is a locality and bay at the south head of Whangarei Harbour in Northland, New Zealand. The western side of Marsden Bay is a coastal community called One Tree Point, and the eastern side is the industrial development of Marsden Point...

 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

Marsden Point Branch

The Marsden Point Branch is a proposed branch line railway in the Northland region of New Zealand's North Island. It would diverge from the North Auckland Line south of Whangarei and serve Northland Port at Marsden Point...

, a branch line

Branch line

A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur 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

Ports of Auckland

Ports of Auckland Limited , the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities...

 in its constrained Auckland CBD

Auckland CBD

The Auckland CBD is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. Bounded by several major motorways and by the harbour coastline in the north, it is surrounded further out by mostly suburban areas...

location, the Marsden Point port would also have much free land for expansion.