22 February 2022

New Zealand Service Announcement | COVID-19 | 22 Feb 2022

Following our last update on 14 February, the impact of Omicron continues to unfold, and we are committed to providing regular updates as we operate through these challenging times.

As a community, we are faced with increasing daily case numbers as Omicron spreads and the normal routines of our business are affected by illness and isolation requirements.  Across our network, the daily impact on our team numbers is affecting our service levels.  Similarly, our service partners’ team numbers are also impacted and we anticipate further disruption in the coming weeks.
 
While Mainfreight continues to maintain a full network of services across our Transport, Warehousing and Air & Ocean businesses, we do ask all customers to make allowances especially around additional transit times.
 
Mainfreight is registered with the Ministry of Health’s Close Contact Exemption Scheme.  Through the use of daily testing (Rapid Antigen Tests) and meeting MOH requirements, some team have been able to return to work, mitigating further disruption.
 
In preparation of a peak in daily cases, we would remind our customers of the following:
 

• Encourage your customers to allow an extra 1-2 working days in addition to standard transit times.
• Communicate with your local branch regarding any bulk shipments or orders where direct pick-up and delivery options are achievable.
• Where possible, consolidate orders by size and day.
• For any urgent shipments please advise your local branch so they can organise the appropriate service option.
• With increased volumes of imported product arriving into New Zealand on reduced sailing schedules, we are seeing container arrivals condense into batches.  This is resulting in high levels of container stock-holding requests.  Please communicate your requirements in advance to your local branch to help manage demurrage and detention charges.

We appreciate that this is a demanding time for all businesses.  Providing open and honest communication will help temper expectations as we rise to the challenges of the coming weeks.
 
We thank you for your understanding and assistance as we work through this together.