The cyclone has seen ports closed for multiple days ahead of the momentous days for the New Zealand supply chain
Cyclone Gabrielle has closed the North Island’s major ports in what could be a spanner in the works for the recovery of the nation’s supply chains.
The country’s four biggest container ports, Ports of Auckland, Port of Tauranga, Napier Port and Lyttelton Port, had been working in conjunction to bring berthing windows back on March 6, less than three weeks away.
Thrown out in the early days of the pandemic, berthing windows are set schedules for when ships will arrive, meaning port companies and shipping lines can plan, prioritise and work efficiently.
These key ports (and others) have closed for a number of days and are likely to be able to recommence operations at some point on Tuesday or Wednesday.
According to MarineTraffic, 13 cargo vessels were riding out the storm in the Hauraki Gulf yesterday afternoon.
At the time of writing, the full impact of the cyclone on the major port operations isn’t known, but Northport, the first to be hit by the storm, lost operation of both its wave rider buoys because of massive swells.
The buoys, which record vital wave and swell data, washed ashore and until they are fixed and redeployed the port will be inaccessible to large vessels.
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The port hopes to get this done late Tuesday or Wednesday once the worst of the weather has passed Whangārei.
Tauranga, Auckland and Napier all opted to close their ports to vessels because of hazards for land and waterside operations.
Ports of Auckland closed at 3pm on Sunday and will likely reopen on Wednesday morning, losing around 60 hours of operating time.
A spokesperson for the port said it was too soon to understand the cyclone’s impact on the wider supply chain with rail, road and distribution centres disrupted, but estimated it could take a couple of weeks for the port to get back to where it was pre-storm.
It said it would discuss the timing of berth window reopening with other ports once the cyclone had moved through.
Port of Tauranga also closed on Sunday afternoon with the harbour master ordering eight vessels out to sea to ride out the storm. It is hoping to resume operations late Tuesday or Wednesday.
The port said it expected to have cleared any resulting backlog by the March 6 berth window date.
Napier Port chief executive Todd Dawson said it had cleared all vessels out on Sunday and wasn’t expecting shipping to recommence until later in the week.
He said Cyclone Gabrielle would make coordinating the berth window reopening more difficult.
“This weather bomb that's hitting us at the moment may mean things get pushed back in terms of the ability to start it off perfectly on day one. There will be a bit more delay around trying to get it established.”
Also closed by the cyclone is Gisborne’s Eastland Port, a smaller port serving forestry and other primary industries in the region, while further down the country Wellington’s CentrePort was still operating yesterday afternoon.
The storm has also hit New Zealand’s air freight capabilities.
An Auckland Airport spokesperson said 85 out of 104 international flights and 12 freighter flights were cancelled on Monday. Roughly 80 percent of air freight through Auckland comes in on passenger flights
How long flights are disrupted will depend on the weather and the decisions airlines make, the spokesperson said.
