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Christchurch, New Zealand Update (February 28, 2011) On February 22nd, New Zealand was hit with a magnitude 6.3 quake leaving much destruction behind. We are aware that access to and from the port through the Lyttleton tunnel is limited. For more information, we have been provided an update from our UniGroup Worldwide UTS member in Christchurch we wanted to share with you. If you do have a shipment going to this part of the world, please be sure to contact your move manager here at the home office to receive the latest on the status of any shipment delays. We thank Mark Pitcher from The Moving Company (TMC) in New Zealand for his update that follows: I am pleased to confirm that all our staff were accounted for, including extended families.However many have lost household possessions and regrettably a few of our team have lost there homes, which are in ruins. The earthquake has devastated the central business district (CBD) of Christchurch. The extent of the damage grows each day, as the news coverage has shown. The unseen is the unknown, such as the city's underground pipe network for essential services. It is going to be many many months before Christchurch is fully providing life's necessities - power, fresh water and sewage treatment, and many years for the housing and commercial properties to be rebuilt - and some won't be rebuilt. The loss of life grows each day, and currently sits at 161 confirmed dead, and +200 missing, meaning this has the potential to be NZ's worst natural disaster and loss of life. This is extremely sad and hard to comprehend. Fortunately, we are positioned about 12kms from the CBD which is close proximity to the Airport. Our warehouse is only 2 years old so we expected minor damage, however I am pleased to confirm it is unscathed, no customers goods have been damaged, & storage containers remain in tact as stowed. Operationally we had skeleton staff only last week, but today are fully functional with phones, power & e-mail bringing some sense of normality to our team. We have relocated vehicles and staff from other branches to assist our team with the surge in demand as people now turn from the search and rescue operation to managing there individual situation. The Lyttleton Port (main Christchurch Port) has been closed until last week and access to and from the Port through the Lyttleton tunnel is limited. We do expect some delays in collecting cargo from the port over the next 2 weeks, but Kiwis are a resilient bunch, and this could well improve if aftershocks cause no further damage to infrastructure. MAF (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) have advised the priority for examinations is for search and rescue and rebuilding equipment arriving into Christchurch, so we will experience delays in the very short term for personal effects and motor vehicle clearances. We will keep all customers updated as best we can. The TMC Team are fully committed to doing all we can to support Christchurch in this time of need." Sincerely Mark
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