Auckland ports hire more staff to help with ‘unprecedented’ demand as ships wait eight days before being processed

A photo has emerged showing the scale of the backlog of ships waiting to enter Auckland ports this morning, as unexpected and unprecedented demand sees container ships stuck at sea with goods for an average of eight days.

Up to 11 container ships were anchored in the Hauraki Gulf waiting to be processed at Auckland ports over the weekend, but Auckland ports communications general manager Matt Ball said it had now been reduced to six.

The ships currently anchored are a bulk carrier, a car ship, and four container ships carrying a wide range of merchandise that could probably include some Christmas presents.

The top three ports on the North Island were busy and there were five other ships at anchor waiting to go to Northport near Whangarei and five waiting to enter Tauranga, Ball said.

The largest container ship to ever dock in Northport arrived yesterday, the 261m Constantinos P carrying 1,340 containers. Up to 1,000 trucks, traveling at night or during off-peak hours, could be needed to move cargo between Marsden Pt and Auckland starting Thursday.

Ports of Auckland had already hired 15 more people to help them process the containers more quickly and was hoping to have an additional crane crew before Christmas.

“Our biggest problem is that we don’t have enough trained staff to handle the additional demand,” Ball said.

It was also increasing the use of its gantry robots to help move more cargo.

Before Covid, it was rare for Auckland ports to have ships waiting to be unloaded, and on the rare occasions that it did, there were only one or two at a time, he said.

“I think the biggest queue previously has been when brownish brown stink bugs were discovered aboard car ships, resulting in pretty long delays in car imports. So this kind of thing only happens in exceptional circumstances, like we have done it this year with Covid. “

Ball said the delays were not unique to New Zealand and were happening around the world.

Demand between Asia and the United States had also grown by more than 20 percent, while New Zealand faced “unexpected and unprecedented” demand.

Demand was expected to continue into 2021, with more than a month of backorders from manufacturers in China waiting to be shipped.

Last month, the Herald was contacted by several frustrated readers who recounted how they had been waiting four to six months for furniture to arrive from abroad, as retailers, including Freedom, blamed Covid shocks for delays at ports. .

Other retailers have also had to apologize to customers, as the delays mean their pre-ordered stock won’t arrive before Christmas.