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Australasia’s most productive container port, the Port of Tauranga, is finding its capacity stretched by the ongoing industrial troubles in Auckland.
The Port of Tauranga has picked up two new shipping services as a result of the strife at the Ports of Auckland, and there is little room for refugees from an approaching two-week strike.
“We’re stretched,” says Port of Tauranga CEO Mark Cairns.
“There will be the ability to take one or two extra vessels, but what we are seeing is the vessels that call at both ports will be discharging and loading lots more cargo here.
“We are certainly stretched and I think we would need our bums kicked if suddenly we could pick up a 50 per cent increase in volume, if we just had that resource sitting round.
“So we are certainly stretched, we will be doing our best, but we just don’t have the capacity for all of the vessels – some vessels will just have to make other arrangements.”
The irony is the spill over from Auckland comes while the Port of Tauranga embarks on a major capital works programme to grow the port’s container handling capacity.
Mark was speaking to SunLive this morning on his return from observing work that has begun on a 170 metre extension to the Sulphur Point wharf.
Next month the port receives six new dual container lift straddle carriers, and later this year receives a second dual lift post Panamax container crane for Sulphur Point.
One of the existing Sulphur Point cranes is also being retrofitted for dual lift this year, which will provide the port with three double lift cranes by the end of 2013.
The port is providing an additional 1.3ha of container storage at Sulphur Point, creating 400 ground slots and additional reefer plugs.
“The capital investment programme will begin another tranche of capacity, but that was coming on at the end of this year and the end of the year following,” says Mark.
“So we are pretty close, but it’s coming on a little bit too quickly; maybe we could take a handful, one or too extra, but we really are stretched at the moment and we certainly couldn’t handle all the vessels.”
Maersk moved its Southern Star service to the Port of Tauranga in December citing Auckland’s industrial troubles as the reason for the change.
Maersk was followed by the country’s largest exporter, Fonterra, announcing its exports will from this month February be via the ports of Napier and Tauranga.
The Port of Tauranga’s interim financial result will be announced next Thursday.
