Exports fight for shipping windows

Exporters are starting to feel the impact of shipping problems, as vessels skip or stay shorter periods at ports, and empty containers remain unevenly spread throughout the country.

More than 50 containers of export onions, collectively worth about $600,000, missed their ship to Europe at Port of Tauranga last week, just as the onion export season hits its peak.

Onions NZ chief executive James Kuperus said the exporters concerned were hoping to catch the next ship in a week but it was happening to growers every week. ‘‘We are trying to export to Spain and Germany right now; we have got a very short market window.

‘‘If you miss by a week you might also miss your customers’ requirements by a week as well ...

‘‘If things arrive a week or two late, it is very hard to convince the consumer to eat some more onions at a later date.’’

With apples and kiwifruit also coming into peak harvest time, Kuperus said it was ‘‘a very stressful time’’ for exporters.

‘‘For onions, it takes about eight months to grow and harvest them and it is heartbreaking when you get to this stage and you can’t get them to the markets.’’

The cargo was being missed because some ships were racing to catch up on their schedules after delays and they were doing that by skipping ports or cutting short their visits.

New Zealand exports $150 million in onions a year with 60 per cent of the crop grown in Pukekohe which exports through Auckland or Tauranga.

Meanwhile, in Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu¯ and Canterbury, ‘‘onions are in the packhouse ready to go’’ but exporters were having difficulty finding empty containers, Kuperus said.

The apple export season is also in full flight.

Murray Tait, of fruit exporter Te Mata Exports in Havelock North, said his company had not had any cargo bypassed.

But the availability of empty containers was becoming a real issue, depending on the shipping line, and there were also logistical issues with ship arrivals.

Because of the disruption, ports around the country were no longer guaranteeing fixed berthing slots to vessels and it was now a ‘‘first come, first served’’ basis, he said.

Simon Beale, chairman of the Council of Cargo Owners, which represents the country’s major exporters, said bigger exporters would be fine but “everything’s very tight”. Maersk and other shipping lines had sent ships into Auckland to try and get some containers out.

“The container yards that were under pressure, they were well over 100 per cent full, they’re seeing a bit of light.”

It seems to be a general rule that most New Zealanders feign a lack of interest in the America’s Cup, dismissing it as a rich man’s sport or corporate branding exercise, until the final days, when we all turn into flag-waving yachting commentators overnight.

Yet for all the jubilation we saw in Auckland on Wednesday, when Emirates Team New Zealand successfully fought off challenger Luna Rossa, there is still a tension at the heart of the America’s Cup story for us. It is a tension between sport and business, between the national and the international, exacerbated by a belief among some that such an elite sport should not be propped up by local and central government.

Supporters can point to benefits, such as the boost to the boat-building industry and associated technology, the revival of Auckland’s waterfront in the 1990s, and tourism appeal. For viewers under socially distanced lockdown, scenes of revellers at the harbour and on the water looked like paradise.

Within minutes of the victory, the Government announced that $5 million was likely to be given to Team New Zealand to keep it intact for the defence in 2023. It would come from $136.5m allocated to the cup in the 2018 Budget. But that $5m has strings attached. There would be ‘‘an expectation’’ that the cup will be defended in New Zealand in 2023.

Most New Zealanders would see this as a nobrainer and would be amazed, to put it mildly, if Team New Zealand upped sticks and defended the cup elsewhere.

Yet it was reported in February that Team New Zealand was seeking overseas bids for the 2023 event. These offshore bids would be considered alongside the team’s negotiations with the New Zealand Government.

The approach took many by surprise as it ran counter to a belief that winning the cup in Auckland would automatically lead to a repeat event in the same city. But even Auckland Mayor Phil Goff concedes his city could be outspent: ‘‘I’m not about to enter into a bidding war with Dubai, Abu Dhabi, the Isle of Man or whoever,’’ Goff said on Wednesday.

Goff probably meant the Isle of Wight, as there has been growing speculation that an offer from Ineos Team UK will involve a contest there in 2022. Auckland hopes to appeal to the sentimental advantage of a loyal hometown crowd, along with infrastructure that is already in place. As Goff said, ‘‘we’ve made a big investment in them’’.

America’s Cup minister Stuart Nash spoke with a sense of realism that bordered on fatalism: ‘‘It would be disappointing to see it head offshore but the economic reality may mean in this Covid time that the Government hasn’t got the money to stump up and hold it.’’

Will New Zealanders feel betrayed if an allegedly national team relocates to a different port after getting a better offer? Or will they accept it as the brutal reality of a specialised global sport that relies on corporate sponsorship and international viewers? Could an offshore event still act as an advertisement for New Zealand skill and technology?

Team New Zealand’s tender document reportedly pitched a future America’s Cup that is more akin to the Olympics or the football World Cup, which are not anchored to fixed locations but tour the globe as mega-events. That seems ambitious, and it remains to be seen if Team New Zealand will risk burning off decades of local goodwill to pursue it.

These offshore bids would be considered alongside the team’s negotiations with the Government.