Greetings,
As you are no doubt aware, the current Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) situation has severely disrupted shipping schedules and all vehicle deliveries from Japan.
While the greater industry is working together with MPI on solutions to deal with the current cargo and vessel infestations as well as in the long term, we envisage there will likely be a reduction in vessels moving Used Vehicles down from Japan to New Zealand over the next few months – this is mainly due to no readily available and acceptable treatment for BMSB that MPI are in a position to accept. Vessels that have arrived in NZ that have been found to have large numbers of BMSB on board have been turned away from port and not allowed to discharge their cargo.
At this stage, the Tokyo Car V1802 has berthed again in Auckland. It has undergone fogging while berthed and we are now waiting to see the MPI monitored ‘controlled discharge’ begin. This has been interrupted today with the arrival of the Morning Menad V1852 as the Tokyo Car has had to move off berth to allow this vessel to dock and discharged today.
Other vessels turned way previously have lay off the coast and undergone various fogging treatments and are awaiting permission to return to NZ. Given the MPI required inspections and controlled discharges, the backlog may take months to clear – this being amongst vessel arrivals returning to near normal schedules.
MPI has now put into effect IMMEDIATELY that ALL used vehicles and machinery must be MPI cleaned, inspected and certified prior to export. This will especially impact importers of specialist heavy vehicles, trucks, forklifts and the like. We are still awaiting confirmation from our MPI inspection service providers when they will be able to provide these full services. This will place additional stress on this part of the supply chain as Japanese operations will have to now deal with vehicles and machinery previously dealt with upon arrival in NZ.
Autohub Japan has advised that vehicle ‘buying volumes’ of used vehicles in Japan by NZ importers is still fairly high. As there are reduced vessel sailings at present and an uncertainty of whether vessels will be allowed to discharge upon arrival, some vehicles are being received at port facilities and put into storage due to no vessel space available. While we are coping at present, such storage space will soon be at a premium, so we urge you to review . your current buying activity in order to avoid long term storage charges in Japan. This may also be a worthwhile exercise when considering cash flow for some.
Wherever possible, Autohub will act in the best interests of its customers to minimise delays and extra costs, but warns all importers to “prepare yourselves for lower service levels, delays in delivery, and increased costs.
We anticipate that with the BMSB ‘season’ drawing to a close in the next few months, there will be some respite and more normal services should return, however, the BMSB season returns in September/Oct and by then we anticipate that more formal processes will be in place to mitigate the effects of BMSB should we face another seasonal ‘explosion’ of insect numbers.