Vehicle deliveries are continuing as usual during Auckland’s level 3 COVID-19 restrictions despite some small delays.
Carr & Haslam director Chris Carr says level 3 restrictions have made transporting of vehicles a little more time consuming but dealers are still receiving cars with the same process of contactless deliveries.
Dealers are checking the cars but there are no signatures under level 3. Everything is “working normally but just a little slower,” Carr says.
He says truck drivers had up to three hours of delays south of Auckland on Monday but expects improvements with police extending the location for truck lanes at the Mercer checkpoint.
Ports of Auckland spokesperson Matt Ball also confirms that vehicles continue to be transported from the wharves as usual and there is “no change” to operations.
The port continues to operate as an essential service and has brought back the COVID measures it had for previous lockdowns which “do slow down operations”, the company says.
This includes additional cleaning, sanitising and separating our workforce into bubbles.
The following initiatives are being carried out:
• Ports of Auckland’s border controls and restrictions have been in place for over a year and these will continue.
• The port is re-implementing landside controls and additional measures to ensure our people are protected from COVID-19.
• It has restricted those who are allowed on site to essential staff, contractors and port users only; all other staff are working from home.
• Frontline workforce continue with their regular testing regime.
• It is actively working with the Ministry of Health on the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations, starting with port staff in higher risk roles.
“We have prepared for the alert level changes and continue to review our pandemic plans. In order to keep our border protected, our preventative measures will remain in place until Auckland returns to Alert Level 1, as we did for the other lockdowns,” the company says.
Major dealerships are also moving to contactless vehicle deliveries under Auckland’s level 3 restrictions.
Toyota NZ says it “remains committed” to supporting the local communities it operates in and has moved to contact free ways of servicing, selling and providing test drives for its customers.
“For everyone’s safety we will continue with contact tracing, and social distancing in stores and for those of you in Auckland, everything will become contactless,” the company says.
According the Ministry of Transport, all freight can enter and leave the country under alert level 3.
There are no restrictions on the movement of freight, including inter-regionally. All freight can be distributed and received.
“Public health measures apply at workplaces and operators should be vigilant.
“Where possible, numbers of staff involved in the movement of freight should be kept to a minimum,” it says.
