Te Manatū Waka

What Te Manatū Waka does

Te Manatū Waka (Ministry of Transport) is the New Zealand Government ministry serving as the system's lead on transport, responsible for developing and advising on transport policy across air, maritime, rail, road, and public transport modes. It coordinates a network of delivery and regulatory partners including Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, the Civil Aviation Authority, Maritime New Zealand, and KiwiRail, and administers legislative frameworks such as the Civil Aviation Act 2023, the Land Transport Management Act, and the Maritime Transport Act. Its end customers are the New Zealand Government (principal), New Zealand citizens and residents, and commercial transport operators across all modes.

The ministry's core technology and data assets include the Fuel Response Monitoring Dashboard — aggregating travel demand, fuel supply, prices, traffic volumes, public transport patronage, and fuel stock levels — and the Transport Network Performance Reporting system, which quarterly reports on multi-modal network performance. It also publishes national fleet statistics (103,439 BEVs as of July 2026), road safety data (174 YTD road deaths), Household Travel Survey data (5:40 hours average weekly travel per New Zealander in 2024-2025), and rail freight statistics (17.01 million tonnes annually). It operates from a Wellington headquarters at Pastoral House and an Auckland regional office.

As a New Zealand government ministry, Te Manatū Waka does not operate a commercial revenue model. It is funded through Vote Transport appropriations and delivers outputs via government policy statements, legislation, regulations, consultations, and official information releases. The ministry has recently been rebranded and expanded in scope to Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport, reflecting a broadened mandate across cities, environment, regions, and transport.

Name

Te Manatū Waka

Legal name

Ministry of Transport

Website

https://transport.govt.nz

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Te Manatū Waka is the New Zealand Government ministry serving as system lead on transport policy, coordinating air, maritime, rail, road, and public transport regulation, and administering legislation such as the Civil Aviation Act 2023 and Land Transport Management Act.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Transport Policy

NAICS

Regulation and Administration of Transportation Programs (92612), Regulation and Administration of Transportation Programs (926120), Administration of Air and Water Resource and Solid Waste Management Programs (92411)

SIC

Transportation Services (4700)

akta.pro primary industry

State/Provincial Transportation, Roads & Public Works Administration (BPAIABAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Local Transportation, Parking & Mobility Administration (BPAIACAM), Transport Safety & Infrastructure Standards Cooperation (BPADANAK)

Keywords

• Transport policy advisory
• Transport regulatory oversight
• Government transport coordination
• Transport infrastructure planning
• Transport safety regulation

Headquarters

HQ city

Wellington

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Te Manatū Waka is the New Zealand Government's system lead on transport, providing whole-of-government policy advice, regulatory oversight, and coordination across air, road, rail, maritime and public transport sectors. It develops transport legislation and policy (including the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport), manages statutory frameworks such as the Civil Aviation Act 2023, Land Transport Management Act and Maritime Transport Act, and operates national monitoring systems such as the Fuel Response Monitoring Dashboard and Transport Network Performance Reporting.

Product overview

Te Manatū Waka (Ministry of Transport) is a government ministry that serves as the system lead on transport for the New Zealand Government. Rather than offering commercial products, the ministry focuses on policy development and coordination across transport-related areas including air transport, Auckland, environment and climate change, freight and logistics, infrastructure and investment, maritime transport, public transport, resilience and security, revenue, safety, strategy and direction, technology and innovation, and walking and cycling. The organization does not offer commercial product offerings or services in the traditional sense.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fuel Response Monitoring Dashboard A national public dashboard providing summary data on travel demand across New Zealand's transport network, fuel supply and prices, vehicle traffic volumes, commercial vehicle kilometres, public transport passenger numbers, flight departures, and fuel stock levels. Intended for government agencies, transport operators, media and the public.
• Transport Network Performance Reporting Quarterly reporting service covering how New Zealand's air, road, rail, port and public transport networks perform their core function of getting people and goods from A to B. It is produced for the Government, agencies, and the public.
• Public Consultations on Transport Policy Formal public consultation process delivered through the consult.transport.govt.nz portal, allowing individuals, businesses, iwi and agencies to submit on transport policy, legislation and regulation proposals.
• Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS 2024) The statutory Government Policy Statement on land transport that sets strategic direction, priorities and funding signals for the New Zealand land transport system, advising Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and other delivery partners.
• Transport Statistics and Insights National transport statistics and insights programme publishing data on fleet composition (including 103,439 battery electric vehicles), household travel (5:40 hours/week average), road deaths, freight volumes (17.01 million tonnes on rail), 49.84 billion vehicle kilometres travelled annually, and public transport usage (11.80% of New Zealanders in the last year).
• Air Services Agreements and Aviation Policy Advice Policy advice on air transport and administration of air services agreements and Vote Transport for the civil aviation portfolio, with operational safety regulation delivered by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Waka Kotahi NZ Transport AgencycoreOthersWaka Kotahi is the primary land transport agency partner. The ministry leads advice to Government on the Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP) in collaboration with Waka Kotahi. They also work together on regional fuel tax implementation and Auckland rail transport development.
• Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)coreOthersThe CAA is a key regulatory partner for civil aviation. The ministry holds information on policy advice, air services agreements, and Vote Transport administration while CAA handles safety rules, licensing, standards enforcement, and aviation security service.
• Maritime New ZealandcoreOthersMaritime New Zealand handles marine environment protection as part of the transport system. The ministry collaborates on maritime security strategy and maritime transport regulations.
• KiwiRailcoreOthersKiwiRail is a key partner for rail infrastructure. The ministry is involved with the Wellington Metro upgrade and future of rail planning, working with KiwiRail on rail network development.
• WSP (consulting)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerWSP is engaged for developing Auckland's rail transport projects as a consulting engineering partner.
• Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)coreOthersMBIE is the lead agency for fuel response. The ministry collaborates with MBIE on energy strategies for New Zealand and MBIE provides fuel stock data for the Fuel Response Monitoring Dashboard.
• Ministry for the EnvironmentcoreOthersCollaboration on emissions reduction plans and environmental sustainability initiatives related to transport sector decarbonisation.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• KiwiRail: State-owned enterprise that operates New Zealand's rail freight and Wellington Metro passenger services. Peer because it is the operational rail entity under the ministry's policy direction and a key partner on rail network investment decisions.
• Maritime New Zealand: NZ regulator for maritime safety, security and environmental protection. Peer under the transport system lead structure, sharing responsibility for maritime transport legislation and policy execution with Te Manatū Waka.
• Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand: NZ regulator for civil aviation safety, security and standards. Peer because it sits within the transport policy umbrella the ministry leads, handling operational regulation while the ministry owns policy and legislative stewardship.

Regional players

• Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE): New Zealand ministry covering business, energy and innovation policy. Peer in scale and as a key coordination partner on fuel-response, energy, and innovation policy that intersects with the transport portfolio.
• Ministry for the Environment (Manatū Mō Te Taiao): New Zealand's environmental policy ministry and a core partner of Te Manatū Waka on transport decarbonisation. Peer in scale and proximity but with an adjacent (environmental) rather than overlapping (transport) mandate.

Broad incumbents

• US Department of Transportation: US federal executive department with cross-modal transport policy and safety oversight. Peer at the level of mandate (multi-modal transport policy lead) though vastly larger in budget and organisational complexity.
• UK Department for Transport: National government ministry responsible for transport policy across England and the UK. Directly comparable in function to Te Manatū Waka as a sovereign transport policy ministry, though with a much larger budget, workforce, and legislative footprint.
• Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts: Australian national ministry covering transport, infrastructure, regional development and communications. Strong peer to Te Manatū Waka given the parallel 'Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport' mandate expansion and similar Commonwealth-style federal policy remit.
• Transport Canada: Canadian national transport ministry covering air, marine, rail and road policy. Comparable to Te Manatū Waka in scope across all modes and in regulatory oversight of aviation and maritime safety.

Direct peers

• Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency: The primary land transport delivery agency in New Zealand. While distinct in role (delivery vs policy), Waka Kotahi is the closest institutional peer because it operates the land transport system that Te Manatū Waka sets policy for and is the ministry's most important coordination partner.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Ministryoftransportnz
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ministry-of-transport-new-zealand
• Xx.com/motnz

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Te Manatū Waka