June 2011 (pdf) - Port Nelson

Port Nelson Limited report. June 2011. Page 7
Trucking through the night
No-one likes sitting and waiting in the five o’clock traffic build-up around Rocks Road, even more so when the vehicle represents a
significant investment that should be earning money by making as many trips to the port each day as possible.
Traffic delays drove a decision from Nelson Pine Industries’ trucking company Mytton Transport to seek the cooperation of NPI and Port
Nelson Ltd to increase night runs, and
the new system is working well. Two
trucks now do 20 loads overnight,
between 7.30pm and 6am; with one
truck still on daytime deliveries. At
Nelson Pine, reduced truck movements
through the despatch department have
brought health and
safety gains.
...and beyond
At Port Nelson the change from receiving MDF 20 hours a day rather than 10 hours meant taking on extra staff with a split shift roster.
“NPI is a valued customer so we were pleased to accommodate them,” says Logistics Supervisor Mark Smith. “The change gives us more
flexibility during the daytime and with fewer trucks coming and going there is less congestion.”
Three heads – one division
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It’s not so long ago that TBS would be pulling in casuals for a busy day, while across the port, there was
occasional spare capacity at QuayPack or the Container Yard. There’s still a need for casuals at TBS, but
there’s now much more sharing of staff, plant and equipment across these three operations. Driving
this along day-to-day are Grant Davis from the Container Yard, Jeremy Salton at QuayPack and Tim
Loach at TBS. They say the staff sharing sits well with the weekly flow of work at the port.
“At QuayPack work builds up as we get ready for the regular shipping calls over the weekend and on
Mondays,” Jeremy explains, "early in the week we can often spare staff to help TBS work a vessel.”
Grant notes that there are different skill sets to each job, with drivers needing to know the yard, the
Jade software and the on-board computers; but says as people get familiar with these the sharing of
staff gives everyone more stability and regular hours.
“Getting together every morning for regular meetings is a big help in meeting the work flow with the
right staff,” says Tim. “When we have two container ships in and a 'loggie' we get a lot of help from
other areas to get the job done.”
Port Logistics Manager Digby Kynaston says the three supervisory staff are doing a great job by
working more closely together: “These are highly competent guys who are doing a very professional
job by bringing the operational side of the port into one division, not only for the enhancement of
the port but also for all our customers.”
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Salt mines
Since Port Marlborough doesn’t
maintain a stevedoring workforce
we have built up a relationship
where TBS takes up that role
on an ‘as needed’ basis. In early
February this saw our team
loading salt harvested from Lake
Grassmere onto a bulk carrier for
shipment to the Dominion Salt
refinery at Mount Maunganui.
Crews of four plus a supervisor
used the Tiwai Point’s cranes on
three 12 hour shifts to take the
mountain of salt from the wharf
into the hold of the bulk carrier.