| CBAFF Updates |
| POAL Container Terminal Update – Road and Rail Terminal Operations Status |
| Received 30 August, 4.13pm It is with deep sadness that we confirm that a member of Ports of Auckland staff was fatally injured last night, while working on a ship at Fergusson Terminal. We are doing everything we can to support his family, those who were on shift at the time of the incident and our wider team. Victim support and EAP are on site. Work stopped immediately and a full investigation is underway which we expect will be completed sometime later today. Until then we are unable to resume cargo operations. At this stage, we hope to recommence Terminal operations from tomorrow morning Monday 31 August, however the start-up will be later than 0700 hours as we need to brief the teams and ensure that they are all supported. There will be a small number of straddles operating this evening to help manage urgent moves and our Gate Ops team will reach out to Carriers with bookings this evening to help manage any urgent containers. We have not been able to move any rail containers off Port today. Additionally the team will work with Carriers on any VBS bookings made before 0700 Monday 31 August to times later in the day once operations are back up and running. Note there will be some containers that have not been discharged from the affected vessel and potentially changes to other vessel schedules as we will now have lost a minimum 24 hours operating time. Please ensure to check with our Gate Ops and/or Customer Services team to validate any container information if required. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this very difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with our fallen colleague and his whanau. We will ensure to keep you updated with developments as and when they become clearer. |
| NZ Customs – TSW update |
| Received 28 August, 4.35pm As previously mentioned in the Customs Release and our website, on 01 September 2020 a change to Trade Single Window (TSW) system will come into effect. TSW now has the ability to reject specific lodgements if when submitted the required documents have not been attached. The purpose of this is to streamline our clearance process and remove the need for officers to request documents separately via email. It is important to note that this function will not hold an entry for clearance by Customs, unless under the usual circumstances. Whereas before the request for documents was post-submission, this now has the request/requirement as pre-submission. Our IS team has advised us that a pop-up warning tile will appear advising the declarant that the lodgement will require attached documents to be accepted. For the majority of declarants/brokers this will be business as usual, as most of these lodgement already have the documents attached. This function now reminds declarants/users to do this prior to submission. Over the next few weeks we will introduce this function for more lodgements, and we will advise which ones in advance. The first to use this new TSW function will be lodgements submitted using the below tariff codes only: 9805.00.15 00K Household or other effects (qualifying) 9805.00.89 00C Household or other effects (non-qualifying) Our website has been updated to reflect these changes. As always if any of your members have questions please contact us through the usual channels. Regards, Joshua Tolich Senior Customs Officer |
| MFAT Report: Gulf Cooperation Council Region: Supply Chains Resilient Through Covid-19 |
| Received 28 August, 2.12pm Our latest report on the Resilence of Supply Chains in the GCC Region, prepared by the New Zealand Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Middle East and Africa Division in Wellington has been published – we hope it is of interest to you. It is also available as a PDF Download. You are welcome to share, distribute, re-use and re-publish this report as you see fit, as long as no substantive changes are made, and it continues to be attributed to the Ministry. You can view the complete list of market reports published to date here: www.mfat.govt.nz/market-reports/ You can view all reports from the Middle East here. You are welcome to suggest topics of interest for future reports, or provide thoughts and feedback about any of the reports above. Please let us know if you do not wish to receive reports like this in the future. Best Regards, Jeremy Hall Export Services Manager (Auckland-based) Economic Division New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade |
| Weekly Container Network Update |
| Received 28 August, 4.35pm Here is our weekly communication on the operational condition, capacities and information from the various container ports and parks. With Auckland dropping down to COVID-19 Level 2 in line with the rest of the country, lease be aware we will be seeing an increase in traffic volumes around the city. Please see the details below and if you have any issues or queries please do not hesitate to get in touch with the team here at National Road Carriers. NRC Update Carriers are advised to adjust their operations where possible to adopt the full 24/7 operating window to clear boxes and avoid congestion. We understand that there has been a few issues around the empty depot opening times. This was due to there being little or no demand at night so it was unfeasible for them to operate. Please speak with your customers regarding operating outside normal business hours to increase demand at night and alleviate the pressure during the day. Depots are happy to re-visit their times if the demand increases. There have been worrying and increasing reports that some drivers are neglecting to engage their twist-locks when carrying containers. This is an extremely dangerous thing to do which will ultimately result in a major and potentially fatal incident. Please remind all of your drivers this is unacceptable and the legal implications involved for everyone. Port of Auckland Ltd Road and terminal continued to be busy throughout the week with laden imports in the yard at the start of today just over 300 units which is positive leading into a very busy weekend and week ahead. Terminal yard capacity utilisation this morning was around 97% in the main terminal yard and just under 30% in the Automation yard. There have been high number of empties delivered to Port for this weekend’s vessels which is adding to the higher yard utilisation. Truck turn times have settled over the week with the average through the manual grids around 25 minute turn times and through the automation truck grids 31 minutes. Working under the two terminal mode, required until full terminal roll out now expected around November 2020, adds to the complexity especially when the A-Lanes are fully utilised. We are increasing the number of A-Strad lanes from this weekend which should help improve the flow and turn times as access for the A-Strads onto the road grid will be more open and therefore more lanes to use. This weekend shipping demand is very heavy, as advised throughout the week in our regular Port wide updates due to late arriving ships. (Over 60% of the vessels are out of window this week). We are expecting from today through to Tuesday vessel demand is back to back exchanging upwards of 15,500 containers when over this period of time we would normally handle about 9,000 moves. There is a higher proportion of import volume which will add to the yard congestion as we work ships and seeking to optimise the operation to get the exchanges right, balancing the discharge with yard utilisation and load. Next week challenges – Due to the heavy shipping and volume demand over this weekend, productivity will be affected across the terminal and we ask all operators to please be patient. VBS slots have been taken up between 0500-1700 Saturday and 0700-1700 Sunday with some slots being used Sunday evening. There are still slots available Saturday night. ALL available slots have been taken up for Monday and Tuesday at this stage with little opportunity expected to increase this capacity due to the vessel demand on the berth. Throughout next week will be very busy with vessels due towards the end of next week being close to on window at this stage. Note some of the vessels touching Australian ports are still suffering some schedule delays. To help manage capacity throughout next week we have stopped the return of import empty containers back into LINK from any containers discharged from vessels today (Friday 28/08 – Friday 4/09 inclusive), these units will need to be returned to external depots. Metrobox Thanks to everyone for their patience and assistance while we have dealt with the adverse weather and mechanical issues this week Also thanks to all for their continued efforts in following our COVID-19 rules whilst on site. 66% Capacity MBX Neilson Street Please be advised that there are delays onsite due to mechanical difficulties with our hoists. Our mechanics are working to have this resolved. 77% Capacity MBX Savill Drive We now have an intercom at Metrobox Site 2 for your drivers to book in their drop offs and pickups from Monday 31st August. Please advise your drivers to turn off their engines whilst communicating via the intercom. This intercom functions the same as the one in the Savill Drive main yard. Door directions for Metrobox Site 2 is the same as the main yard. Please note that the drivers will not be serviced if the intercom is not used as they will not be on the drivers screen. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Metrobox main line (09) 634 3646. ContainerCo 1. With the forced COVID-19 Level 3 restrictions placed on us all, the following conditions will apply at our depots. Truck drivers will not be served if they arrive without a booking. Please keep to your booking windows. Drivers are asked not to approach the office. In each depot the following gate rules apply MCP – Staff will call information through to concon for drop off/pick up OCP – Drivers will get signaled from the office window. HJP – 1-Stop RFID should mean in most cases the driver will go straight through if booking is correct. If not, you will get signaled through the window. 2. Only three tri-trucks at a time in any depot to save congestion 3. Adverse weather conditions have caused closures for periods this week for Health and Safety reasons. If this happens notificatins will be sent out Hugo Johnson Container Park (HJP) Current depot capacity at 67%. No issues with machinery. Depot has had an influx of units this week, and traffic has been busy with queues being minor. Staff have monitored and acted if an issue arose. Oak Road Container Park (OCP) Current depot capacity at 65%. Gate activity low this week so traffic flow is good. Manukau Container Park (MCP) Current depot capacity at 51%. Gate flowing well throughout the week with quite a volume of exports. Redirection of MSC 40HC in place to go to MCP rather than OCP. Notifications are in OCP booking system. PoT/Metroport Export volumes for Metroport are growing. Transactions – 63% Export Volume. Available grid capacity – 50% Average Truck Turn Times for week 20 minutes Hoist availability +95% All shifts are fully manned. Anticipate no issues over the weekend. Tauranga Container Terminal TEU Capacity percentage – Imports at normal levels. VBS/E-Gate challenges – No VBS issues. Access Issues – There is still a diversion on North Road due to the demolition of Shed 11. Please ensure drivers are vigilant around this area with temporary roadways and demolition related traffic entering/exiting the Shed 11 fenced off area. Please adhere to the normal 10kph speed around the Shed 11 loop and be aware of these and other vehicles. Please ensure new/expired drivers complete the on line Port Site induction prior to coming on site https://www.port-tauranga.co.nz/health-safety/port-inductions/ especially important again now we are in Covid level 2. General information – Safety Reminder – Covid level 2 – we are reintroducing the 3 person limit in the TCT R&D for drivers and strongly encouraging transporters to use E-gate to help reduce face to face contact to keep everyone safe. For more information on signing up to E-gate email vanessab@port-tauranga.co.nz . Follow government guidelines around hygiene practices and if your drivers are unwell, please have them stay at home. DG Process Reminder – Please ensure DG paperwork is emailed to TCTR&D@port-tauranga.co.nz ahead of the container arriving at TCT with the container number in the subject line of the email. |
| Useful Links |
| Please review the links below: Air freight options: Website: https://covid19.nzte.govt.nz/page/air-freight-option-for-immediate-export Unite against COVID-19: Website: https://covid19.govt.nz/ NZ COVID Tracer App: Website: https://covid19.govt.nz/health-and-wellbeing/protect-yourself-and-others/keep-track-of-where-youve-been/#contact-tracing-for-businesses-and-services Website: https://www.business.govt.nz/covid-19/contact-tracing/ MPI email address and website for Covid-related trade issues: Website: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/protection-and-response/covid-19-coronavirus-information-and-advice/exporting-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/ Email: Covid-19.Trade@mpi.govt.nz |
Published by the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation of New Zealand Inc., PO Box 34-149, Birkenhead, Auckland City 0746, 64 9 419 0019, admin@cbaff.org.nz, www.cbaff.org.nz. Contact our office if you wish to be added to our mailing list. If you no longer wish to receive email updates please use the “unsubscribe” function below. Copyright © CBAFF 2020. All rights reserved. The information contained in this email is intended solely for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it is prohibited and may be unlawful. Thank you. |
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