Who, exactly, is monitoring vaccination numbers at the port in Tauranga?

Wednesday, 11 August 2021

The Rio de la Plata was tied up at the Port of Tauranga for more than two days last week, and 11 of its 21 crew later tested positive for Covid-19.

The Rio de la Plata is on the move and en route to Malaysia, all the Covid-19 test results at the port in Tauranga have so far come back negative, and the level of risk is now considered low.

But concern remains about the rate of vaccination among workers at New Zealand’s busiest port.

There is also confusion as to who exactly in Tauranga is monitoring overall vaccination numbers at the port. In other words, who knows how many Tauranga port workers have not yet been vaccinated?

The Port of Tauranga doesn’t. The Bay of Plenty District Health Board doesn’t. The Ministry of Health has not yet responded.

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To find out, you would need to ask each individual company working at the port. And it is unclear if any authority is doing that and keeping a tally.

The Bay of Plenty DHB told Stuff “only the employers of workers at the Port of Tauranga hold vaccination data about their staff”.

This comes after a union boss told Stuff that “a large number” of members and port workers are vaccine hesitant, and that he wasn’t surprised when it was revealed that 87 unvaccinated port workers were involved in some way with the visiting Rio de la Plata container ship in Tauranga.

Wayne Butson, general secretary of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union.

On Monday it was announced that 11 crew members onboard the Rio de la Plata had tested positive for Covid-19. The test results also showed the presence of the more-transmissible Delta strain, which is causing havoc in Australia.

The Rio de la Plata was tied up at the Port of Tauranga for more than two days last week. It was initially thought 94 Tauranga port workers were linked in some way to the Singapore-registered vessel during that period. They were all urgently told to isolate and be tested.

That number was later increased to 98 workers and on Monday night it was revealed that of those 98, only 11 had received a Covid-19 vaccination. Nine were fully vaccinated, and two had a single dose of the vaccine.

Tauranga City Council commission chair Anne Tolley.

Wayne Butson, general secretary of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, which had 67 of its members linked to the Rio de la Plata while it was in Tauranga, said the low vaccination figure came as “no surprise”.

“We have a large number of members and port workers who are vaccine hesitant,” he said.

Butson said Maritime NZ, the Ministry of Health, unions and employers were all working to get workers to attend education sessions where face-to-face fact-sharing could occur.

“I think we all need to intensify attention on Tauranga and a couple of other ports.”

Tauranga City Council commission chair Anne Tolley told Stuff the low rate of vaccination among port workers was a concern, “because it exposes the people involved, and their families and friends, to unnecessary risk”.

“The council is maintaining close contact with the district health board as the management of this situation evolves, and we stand ready to provide any assistance that might be required,” she said on Tuesday.

Stuff asked the Bay of Plenty DHB if it knew exactly how many port workers in Tauranga had been vaccinated, and how many had not been vaccinated.

The short answer was no.

In response, the Bay of Plenty DHB’s Covid-19 incident controller, Trevor Richardson, said only the Port of Tauranga and other employers that operate within the Port of Tauranga grounds could provide specific details about their staff.

The Rio de la Plata container ship, pictured last year at the port of Timaru.

“Questions requiring data specific to employees should be directed to those employers.”

Richardson said the DHB holds data on the Covid-19 vaccination rates for “border workers” in the region as they are a part of Group 1 in the Ministry of Health’s group roll-out.

He confirmed the DHB was unable to provide specific numbers for port worker vaccinations in Tauranga because the data was not segmented.

“The Covid-19 Immunisation Register records for the Bay of Plenty show that 1744 border workers have received at least one dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine with 93 per cent of these receiving two doses; however, this does not include individuals who have received a vaccination in other districts.”

Richardson then added: “Only the employers of workers at the Port of Tauranga hold vaccination data about their staff.”

Asked if the Bay of Plenty DHB was aware that unvaccinated port workers were boarding international ships at the Port of Tauranga, he said: “Questions in regard to the operations of the Port of Tauranga, or private companies, are best directed to those entities to answer. However, the Bay of Plenty DHB would expect that all border workers and frontline staff are working within the guidelines set by the Government and Ministry of Health.”

Richardson also said the DHB had offered all border workers and their whānau the vaccine, and that the Ministry of Health was currently collating further information on border workers.

Stuff asked the Ministry of Health if it knew exactly how many port workers in Tauranga had been vaccinated, and how many had not been vaccinated.

Stuff also asked the ministry if any authority was monitoring overall vaccination numbers at the Port of Tauranga specifically, or if this information was actually separated out among the different companies and the port.

The ministry has not yet responded to those questions.

A Port of Tauranga spokeswoman said almost all the port’s own frontline staff were vaccinated, “but there are dozens of companies that work on the port”.

“We now have 49 frontline employees eligible for vaccination, 44 of those are partially or fully vaccinated, and we’re working through the process with the remaining five to get them their first dose before the 30 September deadline.”

Stuff contacted the four large stevedoring companies at the Port of Tauranga on Tuesday and asked how many of their employees had been vaccinated, and whether unvaccinated staff had been working on visiting international ships.

Vaccinations have been available at the Port of Tauranga since March but the border order making vaccination compulsory was only introduced on July 14.

Stevedoring is the process of loading and unloading vessels and stowing cargo. This service is provided at the Port of Tauranga by privately owned companies under contract to exporters, importers or shipping companies. Stevedoring companies employ their own workforce and directly service their own customers.

C3 Limited, ISO Limited, and Independent Stevedoring Limited all declined to comment.

Lachlan Philp, managing director of SSA New Zealand, said: “We were not working the Rio de la Plata so I can’t comment on that and due to privacy laws I’m unable to answer your questions regarding the vaccination status of our staff.”

The Port of Tauranga spokeswoman said vaccinations have been available at the port since March but the border order making vaccination compulsory was only introduced on July 14.

“Frontline port workers must now have their first dose by September 30. We strongly support vaccination and have provided information sessions and vaccination centres on site. We are hosting another two vaccination clinics on site over the next two weeks.”

Craig Harrison is the national secretary of the Maritime Union. He discusses the case of the cargo ship with workers with Covid-19 at the Port of Tauranga.

She said vaccination was another useful tool in the fight against Covid-19, “but we will continue to follow all our other precautions that have worked for the past 18 months: frequent cleaning, use of PPE, physical distancing from ship’s crew and regular Covid-19 testing”.

She said those precautions were followed by all workers who boarded the Rio de la Plata last week.

“Port of Tauranga treats all vessels as if they have Covid-19 on board.”

The Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that the local public health unit – Toi Te Ora – would be working closely with Port of Tauranga and companies employing port workers to improve access to those not currently vaccinated to get a vaccination.

“The local public health service will have staff on-site to provide vaccinations to port staff from Monday for the next two weeks.”

The ministry said health officials would be holding two information sessions with port workers on Thursday with clinicians available to answer questions.

“Public health staff have been engaging in multiple hui and Q+A sessions at the port since March and will continue to encourage staff to get vaccinated up until the deadline of 30 September.”

Meanwhile, late on Tuesday night the Rio de la Plata departed New Zealand bound for Malaysia, after spending a few days anchored off the coast of Tauranga.

The ship’s Covid-positive crew members were still asymptomatic as of Wednesday morning. No crew members came portside while the ship was in Tauranga.

The ministry said on Wednesday that all Tauranga port workers who were identified as having contact with the Rio de la Plata crew had returned initial negative results. Additional test results required for some port workers had also come back negative, although six results were still pending.

In the end, a total of 72 port workers have been identified as contacts. Toi Te Ora clarified on Tuesday that those 72 boarded the Rio de la Plata while it was docked in Tauranga. The initial 94 and 98 numbers included workers who were on the wharf but did not go onboard.

Of the 72 port worker contacts, 70 were identified as requiring a day three test after their potential exposure and 64 of them have returned a negative test. Six are pending.

The two pilots who boarded the Rio de la Plata to bring it into and out of port in Tauranga will remain in isolation for 14 days since their possible exposure.

The ministry said Tauranga public health staff would be providing individual advice to the port workers on when they could return to work, with the majority cleared for work on Wednesday.

“As is standard practice with the Covid-19 response, the ministry is reviewing the incident response over the next few days and will be providing an initial update to the minister early next week on lessons and improvements.”

The ministry said public health staff have assessed that the risk posed to the Tauranga community by the Rio de la Plata Covid-19 cases is low, “and the steps taken to date are appropriately managing any risks”.

“For this reason, there are currently no restrictions on events in Tauranga.”

However, the ministry is asking port workers, their close contacts, and the Tauranga community to remain vigilant for Covid-19 like illness and follow all health advice.