Wednesday, 20 January 2021, 12:02 pm
The Maritime Union is questioning the reasons provided
for ongoing delays at the Ports of Auckland.
Maritime
Union of New Zealand National Secretary Craig Harrison says
there is a need for an honest conversation about what has
gone wrong at the port.
He says COVID-19 certainly had
an impact on port operations, but that was only half the
picture.
‘The pandemic brought pressure to bear on
port operations, and revealed pre-existing weaknesses in
management planning.’
Mr Harrison says three
unresolved issues are the failure of the automation project
and related labour supply issues, the port’s failures with
The Maritime Union is questioning the reasons provided for ongoing delays at the Ports of Auckland.
Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Craig Harrison says there is a need for an honest conversation about what has gone wrong at the port.
He says COVID-19 certainly had an impact on port operations, but that was only half the picture.
‘The pandemic brought pressure to bear on port operations, and revealed pre-existing weaknesses in management planning.’
Mr Harrison says three unresolved issues are the failure of the automation project and related labour supply issues, the port’s failures with health and safety, and failure of senior management and Board to get a handle on these two problems.
Port Otago chief called on to resign
21 Dec, 2020 11:32 PM
3 minutes to read
Otago Daily Times
Union organisers are calling for Port Otago chief executive Kevin Winders to resign as tension rises at Dunedin s port.
Tension between workers and management at the port had been building since acrimonious negotiations for a collective employment agreement concluded positively for the union at the end of last year, Rail and Maritime Transport Union South Island organiser John Kerr said.
From the union s perspective the management at Port Otago had been out for revenge ever since, Kerr said.
Kevin Winders. Photo / ODT
At a meeting last week, a collective of unions representing the vast majority of frontline workers at the port decided to do something about it, he said.
Singh is one small player in a perfect storm engulfing supply chains across the globe and particularly our region. Ports of Auckland (POAL) unload the equivalent of two-thirds of a Constantinos P container-load every day, but ships are still waiting an average of nine days at sea thanks to port issues around staffing, automation and an influx of goods. The Constantinos P is stretching Northport s facilities to the brink including using up half of the port s available berths and forcing drivers like Singh to spend hours twiddling their thumbs waiting for containers to be offloaded. Port of Tauranga is another alternative, but after more ships skipped the wait in Auckland by docking there the influx of traffic is causing congestion problems.