Inquiry for coastal shipping into the South Island has accelerated since Monday’s Hamner Springs Earthquake, as KiwiRail and road transport operators figure out how to move freight into the region.Pacifica Shipping chief executive Steve Chapman told Stuff his company was adding capacity to accomodate South Island-bound freight previously destined for road and rail transportation.
Chapman says Pacifica’s Chinese parent company Swire Shipping would be offering extra capacity as well.
“We’re reviewing our coastal tonnage in anticipation of a prolonged land based transport outage between the islands. We’re taking this matter very seriously,” says Chapman.
The rail line from Picton to Christchurch is expected to be out of service for some time, so Kiwirail is seeking other options to meet its customer demands.
KiwiRail Group’s general manager asset services Todd Moyle told Stuff the company was working on alternative strategies such as coastal shipping options that were already in play.
“We are working with our freight partners at the moment to figure it all out,” says Moyle.
Maersk Line New Zealand and Australia managing director Gerard Morrison told Stuff the company is receiving “a flood of calls.”
Maersk Line is increasing the number of its shipping routes around New Zealand in January, but that may not be enough to meet immediate demand.
Morrison says there were still options for coastal shipment on Maersk’s current network. However, the supply might dry up very quickly.
“At that point, I think we will start to get a real feel of what the challenges are, and the requirements are, going forward,” says Morrison.
