The Port of Tauranga is NZ’s largest port and international freight gateway. At this point in time it is experiencing congestion as ships wait anchored outside Tauranga Harbour's entrance. At the weekend, more than ten ships were waiting to enter Tauranga Harbour to unload and pick up cargo.
“Some of the ships at anchor at the moment have arrived late to Tauranga due to ongoing delays in Auckland,” Port of Tauranga Communications Manager Rochelle Lockley told sunlive.co.nz. “We have been operating at close to capacity since September last year due to problems and severe congestion at Ports of Auckland. We are managing large volumes of import and export cargo diverted from Auckland.”
Rochelle says that at the moment the Port of Tauranga container terminal is operating at more than 100 per cent of capacity, with more than 5,300 imported TEUs - twenty foot equivalent containers - waiting for rail transfer to Auckland.
“We are working closely with KiwiRail to try to secure additional trains and we’re hopeful they will be able to increase capacity to clear the backlog.”
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