PORT Otago workers are planning to work longer hours to accelerate vessel turnaround times for the new port call on Maersk’s Polaris service.

Port Otago is a new addition to the trans-Tasman service; Maersk recently announced it would upgrade Polaris to a weekly service calling ports of Melbourne, Auckland, Nelson, Timaru and Lyttelton, a move that coincided with a decision to withdraw the Coastal Connect service.

Port Otago announced on Monday (17 April) the Polaris service is now to call Port Chalmers every Thursday, beginning this month, to meet demand from South Island importers and exporters.

And, it said the Maritime Union of New Zealand and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union have agreed to work additional hours at Port Otago to turn vessels around more quickly.

Port Otago commercial manager Craig Usher said he was proud of the team for stepping up to support the change.

“It’s a much needed leg-up for our South Island exporters during their peak season, as they will get more cargo to market and faster,” he said.

“And it will keep our port business healthy, by helping a key shipping partner clear congestion.

“The rest of the world is returning to normal shipping flows, post Covid-created congestion. But New Zealand is taking longer, related to our backlog of cargo and nationwide labour shortages.”

My Therese Blank, Maersk’s regional head of market, Oceania, said ocean transport is key to New Zealand’s economy.

“We are grateful for the strong local relationships and support from Port Otago to enable this improved network with speed,” she said.

“During the past two years, we have made significant investments to our New Zealand network to keep the country’s supply chain moving.

“With the re-launch of the Polaris service and this week’s announcement to add a weekly port call at Port Otago, we will improve the supply chain stability, while offering enhanced product flexibility for our New Zealand customers via connections at Port Otago to our New Zealand network and in Melbourne to our Australia ocean network.”

Mr Usher said the unions worked proactively with the company to shape up a workable plan for all parties.

“Our teams will work 10-hour shifts, rather than the traditional eight-hour shifts, so we can provide additional discharge and loading capacity throughout the week,” he said.

“This allows us to better match our limited people resources with the key task of turning vessels around as quickly as possible.”

Port Otago said the first vessel to be serviced under the new arrangement is due on Thursday 27 April.

It said the Polaris service will also provide an internal transhipment service (mostly chilled product) to and from Otago and Nelson/canterbury.

The port noted Maersk also operates the weekly OC1 service, which arrives on Saturdays, and the Southern Star service, arrival day Sunday.

“The alignment of these services will go a long way to clearing the export backlog for both our exporters and Maersk, and providing largely predictable work patterns for our port and our people,” Mr Usher said.