Enough ships with refined crude coming to Northland's Marsden Point

Two major fuel companies have assured Northlanders they'd be enough ships docking into Marsden Pt with fuel supplies.

Two major oil companies are assuring Northlanders there'll be adequate fuel supplies as multiple ships with refined crude oil will be enroute to Marsden Pt at any one time.

The assurance follows concerns by the Maritime Union of New Zealand, New Zealand Merchant Service Guild and Aviation and Marine Engineers Association about the withdrawal of two coastal tankers, MT Matuku and MT Kokako, by petrol companies.

The tankers had been chartered by Coastal Oil Logistics to transport petroleum products from the now closed Marsden Point Refinery to New Zealand ports on behalf of its shareholders BP, Mobil and Z Energy.

Maritime Union general secretary Craig Harrison said petrol companies were now using a radically new and untested model of direct imports of refined fuel on overseas vessels from Asian refineries.

A Z Energy spokeswoman said from April 1, when Refining NZ was renamed Channel Infrastructure, individual oil companies each imported directly from overseas refineries into the port and terminal network which meant there was no ongoing role for the previously used coastal vessels.

She said as the industry have been planning for the import-only model for some time, there have been no issues to date, or forecasted, with Z securing both import vessels and product.

Two vessels to date have already successfully discharged into import terminal services at Marsden Point, Wiri, the refinery to Auckland pipeline and truck-loading facility and three more were scheduled to offload this week, she said.

"At any one-time Z calculates it will have four shipments on the water, which equates to 185 million litres of product. At an average voyage time of 22 days, there will be the equivalent of one Z vessel arriving into New Zealand every 5.5 days.

"Z currently has two vessels on the coast of New Zealand, and two vessels arriving at Marsden Point shortly. This equates to a total of four vessels on the water, which is to plan, and is reflective of the average number of ships Z expects to have on the water at any one time. As such, the Z site and terminal stocks are looking healthy.

"Z typically targets stocks of petrol and diesel at around 50 per cent of tank capacity as it is a good equilibrium between a safe and reliable supply chain, and efficient operating. On average, Z's days cover, including stock on water, is between 35 and 40 days."

Andrew McNaught, lead country manager for Mobil, said the increase in the number of refined products' shipments would in fact improve New Zealand's fuel security and resilience to fuel disruption as it was less dependent on a single refinery.

"Given the number of import shipments, there will also be more flexibility in the ability to reroute products across various domestic ports than what could have been achieved by the coastal tankers."

McNaught said Mobil has significant expertise in supply chain planning and a strong focus on reliability.

A 'Don't Demolish The Refinery' public meeting was held in Whangārei yesterday.

Social Credit leader Chris Leitch organised the meeting at the Forum North with a good crowd in attendance.