The Constantinos P docks into Northport with more than 1000 containers that will be trucked down south later this week. Photo / Supplied
The Constantinos P docks into Northport with more than 1000 containers that will be trucked down south later this week. Photo / Supplied
Trucks travelling north have been turned back to Auckland after being told Northport is ceasing container operations over the weekend.
Twelve hundred shipping containers were offloaded at Northport because of congestion at Ports of Auckland.
Eight hundred heavy trucks were needed to start moving them back down south.
National Road Carriers chief executive David Aitken said they've been told travel won't resume again until Monday, because the staff were fatigued and needed to rest.
Aitken said it seems Northport don't have the resources or the facilities to complete the operation efficiently.
"There was at least 30 trucks in the queue at the time they stopped operations, some of those might have got their containers but the rest would have been turned around," he said.
But the trucking sector was advised on Wednesday December 9 that Northport would be closing its gates to trucks for container pick ups at 3pm on Saturday December 12, and that the port would not open again for collections until 6am on Monday December 14.
The well-signalled break was to give operational staff rest to comply with safety standards.
The advisory from Northport management has been seen by the Herald.
A Northport spokesman said the statement by National Road Carriers was completely misleading, and has dismayed Northport workers who had thrown their weight behind an effort to get Christmas goods to Auckland in time in the midst of severe congestion issues at Ports of Auckland.
Northport, a small container port compared to the primary Auckland and Tauranga ports, had agreed to the request of a shipping line and accepted the biggest container ship ever to tie up there because it would not have been able to unload its import cargoes at Auckland until December 22.
It only has two mobile harbour cranes and it was clear to the sector from the start that unloading the ship would be a longer process than at a bigger terminal with many more resources.
The spokesman said at 1pm on Saturday, Northport was down to one forklift driver loading containers onto trucks, and a port manager, seeing dozens of trucks waiting, advised drivers there was no way they would be all loaded up by 3pm.
Northport also advised National Road Carriers of this at about 1.45pm, he said.
"Trucks were not turned around unexpectedly. This is a communication issue."
Trucks taking containers to Auckland on State Highway 1 from Northport. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Earlier in the week Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and police urged motorists to take care between Whangārei and Auckland, due to the extra volume of trucks on the road.
The first of the trucks left Northport on Friday, carrying the first of about 1200 containers that couldn't be unloaded in Auckland from the ship Constantinos P.
Up to a dozen trucks were expected to be leaving Marsden Pt every hour from 6am until midnight for the next week.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency regional director Steve Mutton said motorists should plan more time for their journeys.
"We expect the roads to be busy in the lead-up to Christmas and there are only a few passing lane opportunities on the route. We ask motorists to be patient and give trucks space on the road for the safety of all road users.
"There may be delays on SH1 next week, and all drivers need to factor that into their plans. Trying to 'make up lost time' by speeding and unsafe overtaking puts everyone using the road at risk."
Despite the volume of trucks traffic had appeared to be flowing smoothly on Friday.
