Disclaimer:  I work in Supply Chain Management with one of NZ largest FMCG companies and we are also one of Auckland Ports largest customers. We move over 7,000 containers a year through the ports both import and export. My views expressed on this forum are mine and not my employers.

That out of the way, let me share my insights of what I and my team have been living with through 2020.

Firstly let me address over seas ports.

There isn't so much a shortage of containers, but rather an imbalance. Covid and the ensuing shut downs earlier in the year, particularly across Asia, caused nations that were usually large exporters to decrease their output considerably. Containers started to build in the ports creating an imbalance. Ocean freight is such a finely balanced eco-system that when these imbalances are created they are very hard to undo. No one gets paid to move and empty box! Real life example, recently we had goods waiting in Malaysia for 6 weeks for empty containers.

Next there was the situation in Sydney port at the back end of September. Sydney port has 3 separate docks run by 3 different stevedore companies (DP World, Patricks and Hutchisons). Al three of them were well overdue in their respective negotiations with employees and unions. As unions do they took to protected industrial action to force the hand of the stevedore companies. This dropped capacity considerably in Sydney and created a large backlog. How does this impact NZ. Well the boats that come to NZ from South East Asia and the US go on to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane before returning north. With delays of up to 12 days in Sydney the shipping lines started to omit Australasian ports to get back on schedule. No one gets paid for a boat to site idle in the Hauraki Gulf or Botany Bay.

Now on to Auckland. While Auckland port has been impacted by the two factors above, what we're experiencing now is largely their own doing. They took decisions earlier in the year to down-size capacity on the economists view of how Covid would impact unemployment and hence the economy. A couple of safety incidents that unfortunately resulted in fatalities causing shutdowns for investigations. And an automation project that has not yet delivered the expected improvements in productivity. Honestly the management at Auckland port need to be accountable, however the CEO held a Zoom meeting on Wednesday with industry stakeholders and all we got were excuses and how everyone else is responsible for the issues we're seeing. Auckland now has a backlog of anywhere up to 20 days and I can't see that easing any time soon. The boat that docked at North port was due into Auckland on the 6th Dec and was given a berthing date of the 27th!. We're now in a situation where many shipping lines are skipping Auckland port altogether and sailing past to Oz ports.

Anyway, hope that provides some insight from someone who is living this nightmare everyday. Last week we paid $495K NZD to air fright a container of raw materials we needed to avoid a complete out of stock on shelves over Xmas. They had been sitting in Singapore since 11th November and had been bumped of three consecutive boats that chose not to stop at Auckland port.