Auckland port woes continue

AUCKLAND: Auckland's port will not achieve full implementation of its controversial container terminal automation project by the end of March as it suggested.

The Auckland Councilowned port, the red zone for North Island freight supply chain delays as container ships queue to offload imports, said it had been too busy to start container terminal pavement work needed for full automation, and hoped to start pavement work in April.

However, in a written response to an inquiry, the port said this was dependent on several factors.

‘‘Once we have more staff and have cleared the backlog [of imports], we will start the pavement work and finish automation.

‘‘If recruitment and training goes well, we hope to start the pavement work in April.’’

The pavement work had been delayed because the port had been too busy with daily operations.

‘‘While the pavement work is being done, we will have less terminal capacity. If we did it now it would increase congestion and delays for importers and exporters,’’ the company said.

‘‘It is better to delay automation than delay freight — we do not want to add to supply chain problems.’’

Ports of Auckland is New Zealand's main import gateway and has blamed the congestion, which for weeks has delayed container ships unloading by up to 10 days, on the pandemic's congestion impact on global shipping, Covid19 lockdown delays, and a shortage of stevedores and crane operators.

It is unable to use all its big cranes for unloading and is trying to recruit and train 85 stevedores. It has applied to the Government to speedily bring in five crane operators from overseas.

Many ships have been diverted to Tauranga and more recently Northland, which has contributed to pressure on the road and rail freight network.

But frustrated importers, retailers and manufacturers and some in the freight forwarding sector blame issues and delays with the automation project, started in 2016.

Neither the port company nor Auckland Council will reveal how much the project has cost so far. Industry observers believe it could be up to $400 million.

In a statement in August 2016 announcing a start on the automation project, the company said it would be complete in 2019.

Automated straddle carriers would load and unload trucks and operate the container yard. Manuallydriven straddle carriers would continue to work between the yard and shiptoshore cranes.

Chief executive Tony Gibson said the project would increase terminal capacity from 900,000 containers a year to up to 1.7 million. — The New Zealand Herald