Tug-of-war at port prompts warning

worth of processed timber from heading overseas, but did not expect to see a long-term impact

‘‘Not at the moment – with the amount of product that we send out, one week shouldn’t be too much of a problem,’’ he said

The strike action follows a breakdown in mediation between Port Nelson Limited and the Merchant Service Guild over a collective employment agreement for eight tug masters and engineers working on port-owned tugs.

No shipping movements will take place as a result of the action.

The week-long strike notified for the end of the month would stop all import and export movements and significant parts of PNL operations would cease.

PNL chief executive Martin Byrne said after additional discussions in Nelson on Tuesday, the two parties remained ‘‘some way apart’’ on an agreement.

He said yesterday he had no further comment to make, other than to confirm the strike looked set for the weekend as planned.

A guild spokeswoman also declined to elaborate on the discussions, citing the terms of a process agreement signed by both parties. However, she confirmed no agreement had been reached.

The effects of the weekend strike may not be as bad as previous shipping forecasts showed.

Several container, log and vehicle ships were originally due to berth at the weekend but are now expected on Monday. Only a 1879-ton supply ship Pacific Runner and Moon Shadow II, on the slip, are scheduled to arrive at the port during the weekend.

In June 2017, ships leaving Port Nelson exported 57,274 revenue tonnes of fruit, 40,445 tonnes of forestry product and 144,895 tonnes of sawn and pulp logs from Nelson.