Cancelled flights worry exporters
Exporters have been scrambling to figure out whether the jet fuel shortage at Auckland Airport will affect their businesses.
New Zealand Post said it was not anticipating any major interisland mail delays but had back-up plans if necessarily.
‘‘At this stage we believe our overnight network between the North Island and South Island will not be affected,’’ spokeswoman Amanda Broatch said.
If customers were affected, NZ Post would let them know, she said. ‘‘Depending on the circumstances these plans can include using other airports and alternative road routes, and using additional planes or vehicle fleet.’’
Perishable goods exporters were also grappling with whether their goods would be affected.
Leigh Fisheries in Auckland said it was fortunate because it was at the tail end of its fishing
"We're dealing with a perishable product and we don't have a week and a half to hold fish."
James Hufflett of Solander
quota and not exporting like it did in the high season. It was able to get three consignments out yesterday through Emirates and Air New Zealand.
‘‘We can use a lot of different flights … but it does kind of bother us a tad,’’ one staffer said.
Nelson-based fish exporter and importer Solander, which exports largely to Japan, the United States and Australia, said most of its fish went out through Christchurch. However, director James Hufflett said other exporters of flowers, fish, meat and dairy would be feeling the effects of the outage.
His company was not unscathed, as it was trying to find an alternative carrier for the fish it imported from Fiji via Air Pacific.
‘‘We supply restaurants and hotels and supermarkets around the country. These guys have fixed menus in place so definitely, potentially some of those smaller customers [will be affected] if we can’t resolve the issue,’’ he said.
‘‘No-one has a full gauge on it. I think we’re a bit lucky being a fresh fish exporter based in the South Island at the moment.’’
Companies that weren’t able to get their fish out of the country quickly had to get it reprocessed for the frozen market or try to find more domestic customers, he said.
‘‘We’re dealing with a perishable product and we don’t have a week and a half to hold fish. We need things to move straight away. Same day’s our ideal turnaround.’’
ExportNZ chief executive Catherine Beard said Auckland’s big horticultural base would be nervously assessing flights.
‘‘The vast majority of our exports from New Zealand go by container on a ship. So, in terms of statistics, it’s a small percentage but it tends to be the high value or perishable stuff,’’ Beard said.
Courier company Fastway said its deliveries had not been affected.
‘‘The main flight that most of our freight goes on to the South Island ex-Auckland hasn’t been cancelled. And Air NZ has been pretty good with regular updates throughout the day,’’ chief executive Scott Jenyns said.
He said Fastway was extremely dependent on air links. ‘‘I’m pretty confident there will be disaster recovery measures in place.’’
Meanwhile, a tourism industry spokesman was relaxed about any lasting impact to his industry from disruptions to flights.
‘‘We know from a series of different events [such as the Kaikoura quakes] that there’s almost no reputational damage from these sorts of things,’’ Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said.