Maersk, one of the world's largest shipping lines, is shifting operations to Tauranga from the Ports of Auckland with industrial action given as a cause for the change.

Ports of Auckland chief executive Tony Gibson is blaming industrial action by port container terminal stevedores for the loss of the $20 million customer.

The sight of Maersk ships at the Port of Tauranga is to become more common. Pictured: The Maersk Auckland in Tauranga in 2008.

Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns says while the industrial action has an impact, it is not the sole cause.

'We have been working on for some time to balance up Metroport to get an import call to have more imports going up the rail line to Auckland to give us capacity to bring exports down the line,” says Mark.

'We have been working for quite a while, but I guess it would be fair to say the industrial action has helped the decision making process.”

The first call in the new Maersk rotation is on Saturday with the arrival of the vessel Euromax.

Maersk has over 500 ships, operates in about 120 countries and employs over 17,000 people.

Mark says the ships on the run to the Port of Tauranga are 'medium sized”.

'Maersk is the largest shipping line in the world, and in terms of moving to larger ships, they are one of the lines that can move fairly quickly – it's very significant.”

Port of Tauranga is about to start a major development of the port, including an extension to the Sulphur Point Terminal wharf.

It is also adding a new container crane and plans to conduct a channel deepening programme to accommodate large ships expected on Australasian services in the next few years.

Maersk Line New Zealand's schedule changes announced today will see its weekly Southern Star service call at Tauranga rather than Auckland.

Maersk's Northern Star service will continue to call at Auckland.

Maersk Line New Zealand trade and marketing manager Dave Gulik says the 'Two Stars” provide New Zealand-based shippers with direct access to the Asian hub ports of Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas.

'Most of the export cargoes we currently ship out of Auckland are coming out of the Waikato-Bay of Plenty region, and those exporters' transport and logistics operations tend to be port-neutral,” says Dave.

'Imports coming into Auckland are generally destined for the major distribution hubs in South Auckland, which are served by Port of Tauranga's inland MetroPort.

'Any change to total transit time one way or the other is likely to be a matter of hours at the most.”

Dave says industrial unrest at Ports of Auckland played a part in Maersk's decision to alter the service.

'The security of their supply chain is of primary importance to our customers, so anything affecting that, or likely to affect that in the future, will come into the equation when we are deciding schedules.”

Maersk operates the Northern Star and Southern Star services in conjunction with Malaysian Line MISC Berhad, which is exiting the container shipping business in June next year.

Maersk intends maintaining the ‘Two Stars' in their present form after MISC withdraws, meaning Maersk's New Zealand customers will continue to enjoy the same level of coverage and the same connections to the company's global networks.

Ports of Auckland postponed today's mediation with the Maritime Union of New Zealand after hearing this morning that it has lost a major shipping line service.
'Naturally, we are hugely disappointed,” says Ports of Auckland chief executive Tony Gibson.

'The Southern Star was one of Auckland's largest shipping services.”

Ports of Auckland Ltd will lose 52 ship calls, 82,500 containers (123,600 TEU), and nearly $20m in revenue annually.

'Maersk has explained to us that the possibility of further industrial unrest has been central to their decision to shift the service to Tauranga,” says Tony.

'We had already warned the union that their strike action, during one of the busiest times in the shipping schedule, could cost Ports of Auckland a major customer and threaten jobs.

'However, despite these warnings, a very fair offer on the table and a further offer of a paid stop work meeting, the union proceeded with its strike over last weekend, has already given notice of another strike this Friday, and is continuing to signal the possibility of further strikes, saying publicly it will do ‘whatever it takes'.”

Given the magnitude of the service loss, Ports of Auckland has postponed mediation till later in the week, says Tony.

'We need time to work through the implications of the change in relation to the collective bargaining process.

'Further strikes will achieve nothing other than to put jobs at Ports of Auckland at risk and undermine the country's supply chain at a critical time of the year.”