Maybe not in NZ but in many other countries it is.

If previous Governments here in New Zealand, had taken the trouble to ensure we had a full operational rail service here in the Northland, fuel could be sent by rail tankers from the Marsden Point site to Auckland Airport & elsewhere. Case of the NZ National party, totally unaware, that life does exist to the North of Auckland!

A tricky welding job no doubt.


Like checking the fuel level with a lit match..

That pipeline doesn't just doesn't carry Jet A1, it carries diesel and petrol as well, the entire city of Auckland is at risk of running dry in the next week. Some gas stations are already out of 95.
And when the Jet A1 finally reaches AKL it has to settle for 30 hours. Airfields in the Pacific are running low now according to the news.

Plenty of Jet A1 is delivered all around New Zealand in road tankers....

A couple of NZ 777s into nadi late tonight which is abnormal

The guy in charge of the pipeline said the biggest problem with a redundant pipeline (eg. from Tauranga for true reduncancy) is our Resource Management Act (RMA) blocking it.

It's an unfortunate side effect of trying to convince the world we're clean and green (despite only recently requiring any form of emissions controls on cars!) that any infrastructure improvements are challenged.

For example hydro electric dam proposals are rejected resulting in 20% of our electricity being generated by burning gas and coal meaning every additional electric car we plug in is 100% powered by fossil fuels, and 29 losing their lives in the ridiculously dangerous uphill entry Pike River mine explosion cos we weren't allowed to open cast it no matter how perfectly we restored the environment afterwards.

Incredibly, the response from the Green party was, as best I can remember it from watching it on TV yesterday morning, that the leak indicates that the Resource Management Act needs TIGHTENING.

There has to be a teeny bit of wriggle room for the really important stuff.

QF is flying a B747 SYD-AKL tonight, loaded with 50,000kg of fuel but no passengers, which will be used to keep the JetConnect and Jetstar fleet running.

Other moves by QF to handle the fuel shortage:
* A few trans-Tasman B737 flights are being cancelled and replaced by a single A330 flight
* QF will do aircraft-to-aircraft fuel transfers, for example milking fuel from an A330 into a B737!

For you Aussies wondering about tankers driving the fuel in, the road between the refinery and Auckland had a few significant hills (New Zealand version of hills, not yours) with at times just a single lane each way with many tight turns. It's absolutely not suitable for fully laden tankers. The feasible solution, which is increased storage capacity at the tank farm was not persued by the fuel companies or airport company by the sounds of it.

As the saying goes you reap what you sow...

Im sorry, but this post is so wrong I had to register an account for the 1st time so I could refute it:

You mean the Refining NZ spokesperson? As a rep for heavy industry, they are often not in favour of legislation that favours environmental protection over industrial development, but in this case it is not the RMA that would block a second pipeline, but rather the people who who use it to prevent something they personally do not approve of.
Refining NZ for example have strong lobby groups trying to loosen RMA restrictions currently.

I'm sorry but that is factually incorrect. both the 20% & 100% numbers you have quoted are absolutely incorrect - approximately 20% of our generation capacity IS indeed fossil fuel-sourced, but these plants typically only operate during peak periods, and the remainder of the time are offline or in stand-by modes. During typical spring weather for example, when we often have wind & sunny conditions, more than 99% of the grid load is generated by renewable sources currently.

As for the electric cars - no matter what the sticker on the charging station, they pull power from the national grid, meaning they have the same share on renewable/ non-renewable power sources as your toaster & my tv.

Well I'll agree with you on that point; the Greens can be more than a little hysterical at times...

Notams
 

Pleased to see NOTAMS from both AKL and NAN regarding abnormal fuel situations. Just another example of Australians dropping the ball (in my experience) failing to list fuel issues in notams

QF tankering fuel to AKL and then defueled according to the news. Must be a pretty desperate situation.

Anyone know what the plan was for a pipeline fault ?
(I know, "what's it cost & who pays ?")

No plan existed.

A risk analysis was done but the risk was deemed to be exceedingly low.

Auckland Airport may want to consider increasing the amount of onsite storage they have

who pays for this schamozzle?

The news in NZ this morning they said that it is expected to have 50% flow rate by sometime next week & that the pipeline will not be fully repaired for up to 12 months

50000 Kgs.
 

Why only 50,000 Kgs? I guess you mean they are tankering 50,000 Kgs. The B744 can carry over three times that amount.

Old Fella,

I guess they had to put the stuff somewhere. A few light twins in AKL is a lot different to a clutch of wide-bodies at the Jet Base.