It’s definitely been difficult times of late, with quite a number of unforeseen or badly timed issues impacting the normal flow of the used import industry all the way through to dealers.
BMSB (Stink Bug) – the ramifications of the recent problem with these bugs infesting vessels carrying new and used vehicles from Japan are still being felt. Indeed, this will drive change right throughout the industry at pre-export and shipping levels.
MPI has treated this Biological threat very seriously. The Import Health Standard (IHS) applying to the imported vehicle pathway is being revised and is due to be released shortly. We have been told in advance to expect higher levels of inspection and treatments to be required in order to further reduce the risk of BMSB and other nasties arriving here.
We have also had our Japan container service impacted by BMSB. MPI inspection requirements, increased associated costs and higher risk of fumigation being required has caused Maersk to reduce its service level. Unfortunately, the result meant the additional costs we faced priced the container services much higher than previous, and higher in most cases than a RORO service option. This left us with little choice but to shift most containerised vehicles over to RORO.
Autohub has been preparing for changes to the IHS for quite some time and we are happy to announce we have invested majorly in Heat Treatment to be used in Japan. This equipment is ours and we intend to offer a full high volume treatment service later this year. More to follow on this…
As most of you will know, there is still a backlog of vehicles arriving amounting to much higher volumes than normal. This together with MPI’s continuing BMSB concerns and vessel treatments/inspections is creating ongoing delays in vessel berthing, discharging and delivery. We are still finding it difficult to keep up with the ever changing vessel ETA’s and are aware that this issue has a definite flow on affect to the all Ports south of Auckland. Hopefully we will seeing vessel schedules and vehicle volumes return to more standard terms in the next 2 months.
Takata Airbag Recalls – Minister Faafoi of Consumer Affairs recent announcement about the “Takata Alpha Airbag Mandatory Recall” has had quite far reaching implications. The action of declaring this issue “Mandatory” brought into play NZ Customs legislation as the importation of these airbags now becomes “Prohibited”. The matter has been handed over to NZTA and Customs to work out how vehicles subject to this mandatory recall will be checked, confirmed the recall work has been carried out appropriately, whether the vehicle is still subject to the recall upon arrival in NZ – if so, how does Customs treat the vehicle (seizure/forfeiture/ or otherwise).
We understand that NZTA want the Border Inspection agents to “check, determine, record and advise the recall status” to NZTA and Customs, but nothing formal or official has been released yet.
The best advice we can offer you at this stage is confirm with your vehicle supplier that any vehicle you are supplied has been checked for any Takata Airbag Recall. If it is subject to one and has not been re-worked, do not ship until the re-work has been done by the manufacturer’s representative. Using the manufacturer’s representative in Japan should result in the vehicle status being correctly updated in the appropriate databases, so less risk of the vehicle being queried further down the process.
Further Safety Related Recalls – We also understand from NZTA that ALL outstanding Safety Related Recalls will eventually need to be addressed in the source market before they can be imported into NZ. This is the Governments ultimate objective (and strongly supported by the new car guys of course), so please advise your vehicle supplier that they should get into the habit of checking this for every vehicle
Autohub will ship any vehicles booked. Autohub will not be liable or responsible should a vehicle have an outstanding recall issue and be seized by Customs upon arrival, or refused compliance because of this, so please ensure you take whatever steps you deem necessary to be satisfied there is no risk.
ESC Exemptions – Some vehicles that have been caught up in the delays from BMSB issues may now present an issue at Compliance. There were a number of vehicles not fitted with ESC that would have made it into NZ before the cut-off date of March 1st, but due to delays, did not make it in time. NZTA have acknowledged that vehicles purchased on or before February 26th that did not require ESC at that time, but do now will be considered for exemption on a case by case basis.
IMVIA (VIA now) has worked with NZTA to offer an exemption process. If you have an affected vehicle, you or your compliance centre should contact Malcolm Yorston at VIA for assistance.
We thank you very much for your patience, understanding and continuing support. Like you, we look forward to ‘smoother sailing’ very soon…
Team Autohub