VICTORIA International Container Terminal re-opened on Sunday (26 September) after shutting down on Wednesday night.
While the terminal re-opened early yesterday morning, a statement to customers said some restrictions on operations will remain due to employees who were close contacts of the COVID cases required to isolate for 14 days.
“Thank you for your patience over the last three days as we worked with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services regarding the positive COVID cases at VICT,” the statement read.
The container terminal at Webb Dock East shut down for deep cleaning on Monday at 1600 after a COVID case was discovered among its workforce. Quayside operations were back up and running at midnight and landside operations came online shortly thereafter.
DP World Australia’s Port Botany terminal shut down last week after a positive COVID case. It re-opened the following day and the company announced it would make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for its workforce.
Hutchison Ports Australia’s Port Botany terminal shut down this past weekend when several cases of COVID-19 were found in the workforce.
Ports Australia has called for more collaboration between government and industry to plan for COVID-19 cases at container terminals. As lockdowns in Victoria and New South Wales are lifted in the coming months the likelihood of cases arising at ports will increase drastically.
