Maersk starts moving empty containers south to nervous exporters as supply chain troubles get an industry airing

Tauranga first and last calls for first rotation in new container shipping service. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand's acute container shortage should start easing a little soon as a new Maersk shipping service loads hundreds of empty containers at the Ports of Auckland, bound for anxious exporters in the South Island.

The container vessel the Seaspan Hannover is one of two ships on the new Sirius Star service, which will bring international imports, including refrigerated containers, picked up in Southeast Asia to New Zealand and move empty containers to South Island ports.

The Seaspan Hannover was heading for Auckland as the Ministry of Transport finally got to hold a closed-door workshop of supply chain players in Auckland to nut out congestion issues and how to reduce container freight logjams in the short-term. Previous efforts to hold the workshop in Auckland were stymied by Covid-19 responses.

Ministry supply chain manager Harriet Shelton said the "constructive" workshop was attended by 43 supply chain participants including exporters, shipping lines, ports and freight forwarders.

The workship had focused on identifying the problems the sector and the Government might be able to address, she said.

"New Zealand's supply chain is geared towards efficiency without the spare capacity to handle the impacts of a major shock such as the current pandemic. International supply chains continue to be severely disrupted and the system is coming under pressure to scale up rapidly to handle record amounts of containerised freight."

However infrastructure capacity could not be ramped up as quickly as demand had surged, she said.

The ministry would engage with participants over the next few days on possible solutions and the next steps.

Port of Tauranga was the first New Zealand call on Maersk's new service's maiden voyage this week. The Hannover then sailed for Auckland to load 785 empty containers destined for ports at Nelson, Timaru and Lyttelton. It will depart Auckland today with the much-needed boxes for South Island export use. The ship will return to Tauranga before sailing for Suva and Lautoka.

Based on current cargo plans, the Hannover will place 3698 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent) of empty containers to demand locations across New Zealand on her first rotation, said Maersk head of Oceania export market, My Therese Blank.

Most will be reefer containers.

The next rotation, by the service's second vessel, Maersk Nadi, will make Timaru its first New Zealand call on March 30, she said. It will have picked up cargo in Hong Kong.

The new service will connect New Zealand imports and exports with international markets and South Island ports, and will improve transit times for exporters to international markets by up to 10 days, Blank said.

Empty containers have been building up in the upper North Island supply chain, particularly in Auckland, as a result of container shipping congestion. The resulting shortage of empty containers has caused headaches for New Zealand exporters - and shipping companies - as the country enters its peak perishable goods export season.

Auckland is the country's main imports port, while Port of Tauranga, the country's biggest, is the main export gateway. Denmark-based Maersk is the world's biggest container shipping company.

The new Sirius service has irked the Maritime Union of New Zealand because it is using foreign crews.

Union national secretary Craig Harrison said Maersk should be employing New Zealand seafarers on the service because it will be moving containers around New Zealand ports.

Harrison said under the Maritime Transport Act, overseas-flagged vessels can carry domestic goods between New Zealand ports, as long as it is part of an international service. He claimed Maersk was using the Fiji leg of the operation to get around the intent of the law, because most of the cargo would be domestic New Zealand freight.

But Blank said the main purpose of the new service was to carry international goods between New Zealand and the world, including a Pacific island.

"New Zealand laden coast cargo represents less than 1 per cent of the total service profile," she said.

Each vessel on the new service can carry 2400 TEU.