National Party deputy leader Dr Shane Reti is calling for further investigation into the December incident given the speculation over the quality of Northport's CCTV footage. Photo / File
National's deputy leader Shane Reti is calling Government dismissals of a Northport incident inadequate after port workers interacted with ship crew - increasing the risk of Covid-19 transmission.
But Whangārei Labour MP Emily Henderson said her inquiries after being made aware of the incident showed no concerns from authorities, but it did reinforce that everybody had to be vigilant about Covid-19.
The incident conveys the risk proposed by the virus coming through New Zealand's borders - a risk which was realised last week when three Covid-19 community cases were found in Northland and Auckland after people left managed isolation still infected.
On December 18 about 6.45pm, seven people disembarked the international log-carrying vessel, S E Kelly, and allegedly interacted with several port staff. It is claimed five of the seven ship crew were transported via a personnel cage on a forklift by a port worker further up the vessel from the back.
The two crew members not on the forklift both entered the foreman's office near the ship, walking past a smoko room containing other port workers. The first entered the office to arrange the forklift. The second also entered the office, allegedly without personal protective equipment (PPE) on, to discuss the forklift incident.
After the incident was alerted to NZ Customs, CCTV footage was reviewed by NZ Customs officials, port staff and Maritime Union of New Zealand representative Rex Pearce.
According to Pearce, the CCTV footage was very grainy and showed only two of the ship crew on the forklift wearing masks, none wearing gloves and some crew within one metre of the forklift driver.
Independent Stevedoring Limited (ISL) branch manager at Northport Philip Meara, who managed the port workers involved in the incident, also said he was not sure whether the crew members had appropriate PPE on.
Despite this, a NZ Customs spokesperson said the footage had been reviewed and no breaches of the Maritime Border Order (MBO) were found - an order put in place to prevent Covid-19 transmission.
The MBO dictates that any crew member disembarking a ship must maintain appropriate physical distancing and wear necessary PPE when dealing with people not from the same ship.
When contacted by the Northern Advocate, both Maritime New Zealand and the Ministry of Health said no breaches had been found - but both confirmed they hadn't seen the footage.
When asked why they didn't request to review the footage given its alleged poor quality, both agencies said such a move was not necessary and they had used NZ Customs' account to determine no MBO breach was found.
Reti, the National health spokesperson, believed there was enough uncertainty in this incident to require further investigation.
"How can they make a conclusion without reviewing the footage themselves, that doesn't seem adequate," he said.
"In my view here, the Ministry of Health needs to follow this up, look into it, find a source of truth and look at whether the policies adequately cover that, whether they're being adequately moderated and what lessons we can come to so it doesn't happen again."
Reti said the case had similarities with an incident in August last year when further investigation was called for after a maintenance worker at an Auckland managed isolation facility was believed to have transmitted the virus via an elevator.
In that case, no CCTV footage was captured in the elevator to confirm the worker had worn a mask and further investigation was required.
"In that case, it was told to me by the director general of health [Dr Ashley Bloomfield] that they would go back to the written interviews," he said.
"So it would seem to me then that the policy is that the CCTV footage is poor then you'd take the word of people involved or those that are there, and it seems to apply in this case."
Despite finding no breach, NZ Customs did have concerns about the "use of equipment" during the incident, but did not elaborate on their concerns - only to say they had been passed on to Maritime NZ, the port's safety regulator.
A Maritime NZ spokesperson said after its review of the incident, the stevedore company ISL had since introduced a "standard operating procedure" (SOP) for such instances.
Meara, Northport branch manager at ISL, confirmed the new SOP was in place but declined to describe it.
However, he did confirm the incident was now being considered a "disciplinary matter" because crew had come off the vessel and been transported by forklift.
Despite this, Meara believed it wasn't really an incident and said his staff did nothing wrong.
Northport spokesman Peter Heath said he was satisfied with NZ Customs' findings that the CCTV footage proved there was no breach of the MBO, but declined to send a copy of footage to the Northern Advocate upon request.
Maritime Union of New Zealand general secretary Craig Harrison described the incident as a "shambles" and said even with the Ministry of Health's ruling, he saw the incident as a failure of protocol.
"I was highly surprised to find that the stevedores [port workers] were engaging with the crew on the berth.
"No one should be interacting with the crew in close quarters, that's for sure and if you are, you should have all the PPE gear on, masks and shields and all sorts."
The reason the five crew were allegedly transported up the vessel was to "hog lash" the load in a section of the vessel, whereby the logs on board are strapped down before the next layer is loaded.
Harrison said normal practice was for crew to walk across the load, radioing to any nearby cranes, or to be transported via personnel cage lifted by a crane.
He said this ensured little to no contact between crew members and port staff.
A source from another stevedoring company said - prior to Covid-19 - ship crew were sometimes transported in a personnel cage by cranes or forklifts, operated by stevedores.
However, the source said since the virus' imposed restrictions, all ship crew movement was done without stevedore involvement, such as crew walking over the load to their destination.
Pearce, who had seen thousands of vessels loaded with logs, said the most common way crew members moved about a vessel was by walking on top of the load.
He believed there was a larger problem of insufficient testing at the port.
"I want to see more testing at the port, I'd like to see the crews tested before they come in ... and crews not to intermingle with our people at all."
Pearce stressed the importance of such procedure given the Covid-19 outbreaks in England and South Africa.
"If we get an incursion [of new variant], we're doomed, we're never gong to fight it up here."
Exclusive testing for Northland border staff is offered on Mondays 3pm-8pm at the Refining NZ visitor centre in Ruakākā.
Northland DHB medical officer of health Dr Bart Willems said adequate testing opportunities were provided for all Northland port workers.
"Our testing regime is not based on funding or staffing capacity. If more testing were required, we would provide it."
Henderson said when she learned of the incident she immediately contacted Northport CEO Jon Moore and Health Minister Chris Hipkins.
She said Customs, though its MIQ arm, is in charge of such issues and after its investigation found no issues.
Henderson was not concerned that Maritime NZ and the Ministry of Health had not seen the CCTV footage and said Customs was the appropriate body to deal with the issue.
''But what this does show is the need for us all to be vigilant around Covid-19 and to follow any safety advice. We have to look after the health and safety of our people and we all have a role to play in that - even if it's ensuring you swipe in the QR contact tracing app when going into shops.''
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