Good Day,

There have been some significant developments with the strikes at Ports of Auckland that we would like to update you on.

MUNZ announced an additional strike last week, taking the total strike period from 0700 Friday 24^th Feb to 0700 Friday 9^th March, a period of 2 weeks.

Shipping lines have been working through their contingency scenarios, trying to find the best way to manage customer container flow around the strikes.

Port Of Tauranga is one obvious solution, however we saw from the earlier strikes that they don’t have the port or rail capacity to cope with all of the volume from Auckland.

We have today received a notice from Cosco about the Cap Mondego V201S omitting Auckland and diverting to Wellington instead.  This is a big Asia import vessel as the main direct service from China.  Indications from the lines on this conference are that the costs associated with moving containers from Wellington to Auckland may have to be borne by the importer.  At this point how this will be done, the time and cost is unknown.  We will keep you posted.

Below is a summary of the vessels due to call Ports of Auckland within the strike period and the current status as we know it.  It is a very fluid situation with new information coming to hand constantly, so we will update as we can.

It would certainly seem that this port strike situation will get worse before it gets better.  We recommend that you should make allowance for delays in your import or export supply chain for the next few weeks.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us here at ICE should you have any questions.

Just an update on the strikes at Ports of Auckland, with a significant announcement in the media yesterday.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) announced yesterday a full week strike commencing from 0700 Friday 24th February until 0700 Friday 2nd of March.

This is in addition to the partial strike which is set to take place from 15th to 22nd of February. The partial strike is targeted specifically at CONLINXX operations which is a 90% owned POAL venture operating a rail hub container transport service from Wiri Inland port. This should result in minimal impact as there are many other options outside of CONLINXX which will be free to take containers in and out of the port. We will make arrangements for any affected customers.

The strike on 24th February for 1 week is the one to focus on. There are several large vessels due to arrive and depart within that week, and clearly this will cause considerable disruption to Imports and Exports via Auckland Port.

We are awaiting details from the various shipping lines on what contingency measures will be in place for Auckland cargo affected during this time. In the December strikes, several vessels diverted to Tauranga which resulted in massive congestion on the rail network from Tauranga to Auckland, some containers took up to a week to come up from Tauranga as an example.

Updates from Ports of Auckland can also be viewed at:

http://www.poal.co.nz/shipping_cargo/Industrial_Action_Update.htm

ICE will continue to work through this issue on a vessel by vessel basis and keep customers informed as best we can on shipment delays and contingency planning as the options

become available.

If you need any further information or have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact your key personnel here at ICE.

Kind Regards

Jackie McKenzie

IMPORT ACCOUNT MANAGER

Below is a release we have received from Dangerous Goods Management regarding classification of items containing engines as Dangerous Goods, effective 1st January 2012 :

“Engines for Seafreight will be classified as Dangerous Goods from 1^st January 2012

Beginning 1^st January 2012, all articles containing an engine, either flammable liquid or gas powered, will be considered a dangerous good for seafreight.

Items containing engines (cars, motorbikes, weed eaters, chainsaws, lawnmowers etc) will fall under UN3166 classification. This is a class 9 dangerous good.

We understand several companies have heard about this, and we just want to inform you that these changes are correct. We anticipate that a lot of freight forwarders may be caught out by this, so we recommend that you also check with shipping lines before sending any articles containing an engine.

As always, we are happy to assist you with any queries you have about this (including DG documentation and labeling for UN3166)

Limited quantity labels for seafreight from 1^st January 2012

Also coming into force on 1^st January 2012, is the requirement that any seafreight containers containing dangerous goods in limited quantities will require the limited quantity mark on all four sides of the container.

This mark is in addition to any regular DG placards that are on the container.

DGM is able to supply companies with this new mark, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you require it.”

Any queries, please contact us here at ICE.

Below are the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce hours for Xmas and New Year :

Monday 19^th December 2011 Through to Thursday 22^nd December 8.30am to 5.00pm

Friday  23^rd December 2011 – 08.30am to 12.00pm

Monday 26^th December – Closed

Tuesday 27^th December – Closed

Wednesday 28^th & Thursday 29^th December 2011 – 09.00am to 3.00pm

Friday 30^th December 2011 – 09.00am to 12.00pm

Monday 2^nd January 2012 – Closed

Tuesday 3^rd January 2012 – Closed

Wednesday 4^th January 2012 – 8.30am to 5.00pm

Trust this assists, if you have any queries please contact us here at ICE.

“Mediation to continue tomorrow; strike reduced to 24 hours

Ports of Auckland Chief Executive Tony Gibson said today that mediation talks with the Maritime Union of New Zealand – Local 13 (MUNZ) had progressed some way, with the union agreeing to reduce its forthcoming strike from 48 to 24 hours. The strike will now start at 10.30 pm Friday night instead of tonight.

“Ports of Auckland has consistently maintained a position that we will not meet the union during a strike,” Mr Gibson said. “On this basis, we have agreed to continue mediation tomorrow.”

“We remain disappointed that the union has chosen not to withdraw the strike planned for Saturday and the further 48 hours of strikes planned for later in the month.”

“Their partial withdrawal has come too late to stop the four ships diverting to Tauranga this weekend and too late to roster a full complement of staff on tonight.”

“While the port will be open tomorrow, we will be working through the backlog created by the last stoppage instead of servicing new callers. Importers and exporters will still suffer delays as a result, and slots for road carriers will be limited.”

Mr Gibson said he was determined to press ahead to find a resolution to the dispute.

“Inflexible work arrangements dating back decades need to be addressed for the port to move forward and offer the best service it can for Auckland and New Zealand. Maersk’s decision to shift the Southern Star service to Tauranga has shown us that we’re out of time. We need to lift our game and lift it now.”

“This means being able to guarantee our customers reliable, flexible service and achieving up-front productivity gains. Our customers and the wider business community are telling us that we have to sort this out once and for all.”

The parties will meet for further mediation at 9 am tomorrow, Friday 9 December.”

Please contact us here at ICE should you have any queries.

Many of the shipping lines opted to omit Auckland and divert their vessels to Port of Tauranga, utilising the rail link and Metroport Auckland to service customers. This certainly worked well for the first few days and vessels, but inevitably the sheer volume (approx 4100 containers) has resulted in a back log of containers on the rail and congestion at Metroport. Transit times between Tauranga and Auckland have been around 3-4 days for the containers coming off the later vessels in the strike period and truck turnaround times at Metroport are very slow with dozens of trucks at times queuing up to collect containers. We are doing all we can in working with the situation by keeping customers informed of their container
status and working with the Port of Tauranga in prioritising urgent containers on the rail shuttle. Clearly many containers are priority and the system struggles to cope.

Some other news on the situation is that the Cosco Yingkou vessel from China was planned to divert to Port of Tauranga, but they are unable to accept due to being over capacity. This vessel which was due to arrive on Fri 9th will have to wait until late evening Mon 12th to get a berth at Ports of Auckland, and will omit Lyttelton to get back on schedule.

Maersk Line has also announced a permanent switch of their Southern Star service from Asia way from Auckland to Port of Tauranga. The industrial action is cited as a factor in this decision.

Attached are some recent notices from Ports of Auckland. They have withdrawn their lockout notice for the period 8th to 10th December and the Maritime union has issued a 3rd strike notice from 22nd to 23rd December.

ICE will continue to work through this on a vessel by vessel basis and keep customers informed as information comes to hand.  Any queries please contact us here at ICE.

http://www.poal.co.nz/news_media/publications/cust_advisory/111207a_customeradvisory_email.htm

http://www.poal.co.nz/news_media/publications/cust_advisory/111207_customeradvisory_email.htm

We have received the below release from COSCO regarding their vessel schedule :

“M/V COSCO Yingkou V040s/n – Revised NZ Schedule

Dear Valued Customers,

Due to continuing industrial action at Ports of Auckland this weekend, and no alternative berth at Port of Tauranga

COSCO Yingkou will now commence cargo operations at the end of the strike/lock out period.

Lyttelton Port call will now be omitted, to return vessel to schedule and her departure from Tauranga

COSCO Yingkou V040

ETA (berth)           ETD

Auckland     2300 / 12               2300 / 13
Napier         1900 / 14               0700 / 15
Tauranga     2300 / 15               1330 / 16

Lyttelton Imports will discharge Auckland and be carried on Rudolf Schepers V010s ETA LYT 19^th Dec ‘11

Lyttelton Exports will roll to Rudolf Schepers V010 ETD LYT 20 Dec ‘11 ”

Please feel free to contact us here at ICE should you have any queries.

Below is a release we have received from the Customs Department on the strikes at Ports of Auckland, please contact us at ICE if you have any queries.

“5 December 2011
Customer Advisory
Road Update – 5 December 2011

Good Afternoon,

Please note that the Cap Beaufort V145S and the Kota Permata V075 both have a cut off time of 6 December at 07:00hrs. No containers will be accepted into the POAL terminals after 07:00hrs for these vessels, please ensure cargo is delivered prior to cut off.

R&D operations tomorrow 6 December will be extremely busy as the terminal reopens, please keep all trucks to their VBS times, trucks out of time may face delays getting processed.

The following vessels will omit Ports of Auckland next week and will call at Port of Tauranga.

- Bahia Negra V143N ETA of 09/12 will now omit on this voyage and call Port of Tauranga.

- JPO Scorpios V256S ETA of 11/12 will now omit on this voyage and call Port of Tauranga.

- Annabelle Schulte V840N ETA of 12/12 will now omit on this voyage and call Port of Tauranga.

Please redirect export cargo accordingly.

Refer to Ports of Auckland website Industrial Action Update page: www.poal.co.nz/shipping_cargo/Industrial_Action_Update.htm for updated changes as they come to hand.”

We will update you as further information comes to hand.