I am very sorry to have to inform you that our colleague, who was injured last week in a straddle accident, has passed away.

It has been a hard week for our staff and this latest news is a real blow. We closed the terminal at midday to hold a blessing at the site and some staff have not been able to return to work. Later this week many will wish to attend his funeral. We will support our staff through this.

Ship side operations have stopped, but limited R&D has resumed after 1500 today. Unfortunately we do not have the resource to make up for the lost time this afternoon, so those carriers who have had their slots cancelled, please make contact with the Transport Coordinators to book a VBS slot.

The priority for removal are:

• cleared import containers;
• hazardous goods containers; and
• active reefer imports.

We do expect Shipping schedules to continue to slide over the next few days. We will continue to keep the website updated with the most current information as best as we can and we will be adjusting cargo cut offs to reflect the new berth ETAs as and when necessary. Please refer to Operational update below.

Berth windows remain suspended and will be for the rest of this week at least with our focus on completing the next vessel in line and progressing through until we are on top of things.

The yard remains congested with both imports and exports so we have reduced the number of road slots we might normally work with so trucking companies are not further delayed. This however remains a fluid and dynamic situation.

The On Dock Link facility remains open for de-hire of empties but we have had to put a stop to export evacuation empties coming into the port as they are logically the first to be cut if a vessel needs to restrict its move count and only compounds the yard congestion issue.

Regrettably there is not a lot of positive news at this stage but we remain focussed to work both shipside and landside (road/rail), albeit with challenging and constantly changing circumstances.

Our staff are very aware that these delays are causing repercussions in the market with lost productivity, impacts to production and fulfilling your own commitments to your customers. This is painfully evident and we are doing.

Operational update follows:

Today we would like to update you as follows -

Receivals and Deliveries: Rail and Road operations continue with bookings prioritised for immediate vessels.

Vessels:

• NYK Futago and Spirit of Auckland have sailed;
• Cap Coral is currently alongside and may re-commence operations from 1900 hours this evening subject to staff sign offs;
• OOCL Kuala Lumpur is currently alongside and expected to commence operations tomorrow from 0700 subject to this evening’s operations; and
• Spirit of Hamburg is due to arrive tomorrow morning. Operations commencement is currently TBA
  Please continue to monitor Ports of Auckland website for changes in the vessel schedules.