"It's starting to pick up now but you'll still need to allow plenty of time for your journey," she says.
The latest incident adding to this morning's headache commute was a multi-car crash near Papakura.
The traffic agency warned people to exercise patience."
Multi-car #crash on Sthn Mwy prior to Papakura will cause further delays for citybound motorists. Both lanes open. Pls #BePatient "
Ms Azam says the knock-on effect from the first incident, which happened before 6am this morning, is still being felt hours later.
"There has been a myriad of issues. It kicked off with someone losing a load of plastic bottles and lunch boxes followed by quite a few accidents and breakdowns which have all converged to make it very slow going this morning," she says.
The unsecured load which triggered today's disruption was spread across three lanes and stretched 150m along the motorway. Road sweepers were needed to clear the debris.
Police said a section of the Southern Motorway just before Greenlane was down to one lane as motorists picked their way through smashed glass and debris.
The New Zealand Transport Authority posted a tweet warning motorists the journey to town was exceptionally slow because of the spill.
"A load of debris has partially blocked the Sthn Mwy citybound prior to Greenlane. 3 lanes are open but traffic is VERY slow here."
Police were also trying to find the truck that had lost its load.
To add to the traffic woes there was a breakdown blocking the left lane city-bound at the Ellerslie on-ramp, just before the spill.
Ms Azam says traffic is starting to pick up now but people still need to allow up to an hour to make the trip along the Southern Motorway into the city.
