Pacific port improvements pay off for NZ

From left, Peter Silcock, Horticulture New Zealand; Gary Hailwood,
Quadrant Pacific Agencies; Ben Brooksby, Australian Ship Owners’
Association; and Geoff Vazey, Ports of Auckland.

The Pacific Island Equivalent Quarantine – Container Hygiene Programme (EQ2), set up as a government–industry partnership in 2006 to keep biosecurity risks offshore, has produced impressive results. Garry Hailwood, Quadrant Pacific Agencies Ltd National Operations Manager, spoke about the programme at the Biosecurity Summit.

Mr Hailwood said early trials to deal with the biosecurity risks found with the hundreds of empty containers that arrived back in New Zealand from the Pacific each week had “failed miserably”.

The issues applied particularly to tropical conditions experienced at the Pacific ports. These included the risk of infestation with Giant African Snails and ants, poor ground surface conditions, repeated flooding, inadequate sizes or locations of container receiving and storage areas and lower levels of infrastructural spending when compared with New Zealand ports.

The first system (EQ1) was set up in 2005 to manage containers from three Pacific ports – Honiara in Solomon Islands, and Lae and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea – but it proved to be less effective than desirable and was redeveloped as the EQ2 system in 2006.

Cleaning up offshore container storage areas
has contributed towards major improvements in
minimising biosecurity risks.

Under EQ2, empty containers are thoroughly cleaned inside and out and treated externally with an insecticidal paint. All containers are then held in sealed areas at the ports surrounding the container cleaning and storage zones at Honiara, Lae and Port Moresby that are specially managed by use of pest-elimination systems.

Mr Hailwood said that cleaning up the offshore wharves is a major improvement, as these had typically been covered with rubbish, were mostly unsealed, with surrounding tropical vegetation providing the ideal habitat for pests.

With EQ2 compliance, the number of containers that needed to be inspected on arrival in New Zealand has dropped consistently for all three ports and only 5 percent of containers from Port Moresby are now looked at. There are also fewer containers needed overall for the shipping company’s container fleet because, with inspection and cleaning time being reduced, there is faster container turnaround and less wharf space is required.

Mr Hailwood said that compliance with EQ2 had led to initial annual savings to the company of more than $1 million and provided sustainable ongoing savings. Other Pacific Island carriers have also started operating a similar equivalent system, and he expected that in the future “EQ3” would eventually flow on to most Pacific Islands.

It was important though to realise that whatever container programmes were used, they should be seen as a stepping stone in an evolutionary progression for container management, he said.

Mr Hailwood has worked in shipping, transport and logistics in New Zealand since 1978. He was involved in the development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry-approved EQ1 and EQ2 offshore container pre-clearance process. As Quadrant Pacific Agencies National Operations Manager, he is responsible for the shipping co-ordination and logistics for Swire Shipping’s suite of global shipping services and for Tasman Orient Line’s Asian New Zealand services. Recent additions to these have been bulk cargo vessels and tanker cargoes. Quadrant Pacific Agencies’ head office is in Auckland.

Page last updated: 8 January 2009