Graphic animation: Check out Port of Auckland's massive 30-year relocation plan revealed in conceptual flyover

The massive 30 year task of relocating the Ports of Auckland has been condensed into a two-minute conceptual step-by-step video released today.

Auckland Council are planning to relocate the city's downtown port, and port chief executive Tony Gibson offered a few words on their Draft 30-year Master Plan for the "big job".

Gibson said the location for the new port is yet to be determined.

"Our owner, Auckland Council, is undertaking a project to find a new port location," he said.

"But shifting a port takes time. Finding the best location, getting consent, securing funding and undertaking construction will take decades.

"In the meantime, we need to ensure that we can continue to deliver freight for our import and export customers, and to Aucklanders.

A video flyover of the existing port structures, and how soon they would be replaced, was released by the Ports of Auckland to give the public some idea of how the city shore-front would change.

Some major undertakings are the removal of the existing head office building, and the removal of Shed 51 both within the next 10 years.

A new hotel and public park are also expected to be built on the site in the next five to 10 years. 

"We are facing significant capacity issues on our general cargo wharves," Gibson said.

"We have a plan to develop a five-storey car handling building which will provide more capacity, hide cars from view and free up space on Captain Cook Wharf.

"On top of this building we will create a new waterfront park and next to it on Quay Street, we have earmarked space for a new hotel, or other such building for public use."

In total, Draft 30-year Master Plan aims to remove more wharf than it builds, removing 1.275 hectares of old wharf and adding 1.25 hectares of new wharf.

The first step in the process is for Ports of Auckland to apply for consents to begin the more urgent projects in order to maintain freight capacity.