Equipment Shortages in New Zealand

New Zealand is experiencing tight capacity in key wine producing areas due to equipment shortages, with the port of Nelson currently the hardest hit. This shortage is due to several factors. A recent fatality in the port of Auckland led to a slow down in work during the investigation, and unions at Auckland port have cut working hours to ensure a higher level of safety at the port.  A large volume of empty equipment is distributed from Auckland to other NZ ports and this disruption has slowed the flow of equipment out of Auckland.

In addition, many carriers source empty equipment from Australia, and as we have reported, industrial actions in Australia created major disruptions in container flows out of Australia.  The strikes have now ended, but it will still take a few weeks for things to recover.

We are working closely with the exporters, importers and carriers on forecasts and covering all bookings, but we encourage anyone with pending orders to provide as much advance notice as possible to insure timely booking. We do expect the situation to normalize in 2-4 weeks, and we will send further updates should anything change. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.