Ports race to test 12,000 people
The ports of Auckland and Tauranga are having to test about 12,000 people for Covid-19, with claims the move is causing “mayhem” for trucking operators.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield, director-general of health, issued an order on August 14 that “everyone who works at the maritime border” and will come into contact with ships’ crews needs to be tested for the virus by the end of August 17.
The following day a directive from the Ministry of Health widened the requirement to test anyone who had worked at Auckland or Tauranga ports since 11.59pm on July 21.
While the move affects about 6000 people at each site, port bosses say they expect little disruption to operations because of the extensive testing.
Those having to be tested include shipping agents, stevedores, cargo drivers, contractors, suppliers of goods and services, government agency employees and any crew members who may have come ashore, reports the NZ Herald.
They can be tested at a special centre at the port or at a community testing centre as the government aims to discover if freight is the source of the return of Covid-19’s community transmission.
The Road Transport Forum has hit out at the extensive testing and accuses the government of a “panicked reaction”.
Nick Leggett, chief executive, says the move doesn’t make sense for truck drivers who “come into contact with hardly anyone at the ports” and is seeking clarity from the Ministry of Health around the order.
“There doesn’t seem to be the capacity to test them in this panicked timeframe,” he explains.
Leggett, pictured, adds that a trucking operator took proactive action and sent six drivers who hadn’t been to the port for a test. The drivers were told to self-isolate for 14 days, or until their results came back, leaving the small business with no drivers.
“There are only so many truck drivers to go around and if they have to stand down for 14 days, there is going to be no one to deliver any freight to or from ports and airports,” says Leggett.
Ports of Auckland (POAL) has had a testing facility waterside since August 13 and about 1,000 people were tested over its first three days.
A POAL spokesman says workers never directly touch freight, which is handled remotely or by machines, and containers are never opened at the port by workers. The port has had Covid-19 security and restrictions in place since late January.
