Ports of Auckland has set a new record for the number of vehicles cleared in one day.
There were 1706 vehicles moved from the wharves and taken to storage facilities on Wednesday, April 8. The day before, there were over 1500 vehicles moved.
Ports of Auckland spokesman Matt Ball says under normal conditions there might be 1000 vehicles moved off the wharves “on a good day”.
However, the level 4 lockdown means there is “absolutely no congestion” on the roads and the vehicle transporters are simply “driving in and driving out” again.
“It just shows the impact of traffic congestion on the movement of freight,” he says.
Ball says it also highlights the need to look at ways we can improve congestion in and around the ports for the benefit of freight flow.
The port had nine roll-on, roll-off vessels arrive between April 4 to 11 with one of them carrying over 2000 vehicles. There have been around 10,000 vehicle arrivals so far for April with more shipments due later in the month.
Carr & Haslam director Chris Carr says everyone in the supply chain has stepped up to keep freight flowing and it’s been a busy few days.
“We had a lot of people help us get the message through to the Government for the port to keep moving and to get stuff off the wharves and for the clearance of vehicles off the wharves.”
Carr says it was also one of the first shipments of vehicles to arrive in the country following the Ministry of Primary Industries pulling its staff out of Japan in response to COVID-19.
It has been many years since Japanese used vehicles were inspected in New Zealand, but all verifications and checks were carried out and “everything went smoothly”, he says.
