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Ship with palm cernel sent home
The "Molat" after having been banned from entering the country's ports due to fears it was carrying contaminated palm kernel will not be permitted to discharge its cargo in New Zealand. She has been anchored several kilometres off the Port of Tauranga since Sep 6. The Ministry for Primary Industries initially prevented discharge from the "Molat" after finding some of its cargo had come from an unregistered facility in Malaysia. After considering an application from the importer to have the PKE treated in NZ, MPI announced on Oct 18 that it would not allow the ship to discharge its contents in NZ. They spent a lot of time assessing whether there was a solution that would meet biosecurity requirements, but unfortunately nothing ticks all the boxes in terms of mitigating the risk of pests and diseases entering New Zealand. MPI considered the amount of product involved, the availability of heat treatment facilities in the region, transport and storage. The decision ensured that potentially contaminated PKE woulld not enter New Zealand. The "Molat" had left Port Klang in Malaysia on Aug 15 and the shipment, which has a current estimated spot price of about $250 a tonne, was worth about $5.75 million on the New Zealand market. The ship had been in North Sumatra on April 5 before making port in Malaysia.
Ship still waiting off Tauranga coast
A ship carrying palm kernel extract is still anchored off the coast of Tauranga, where it has been waiting since September 6. A Ministry for Primary Industries spokeswoman said "there is no current update on the ship" Molat, which is carrying 23,000 tonnes of palm kernel extract, commonly referred to as PKE. An unknown quantity of PKE came from an unregistered facility in Malaysia. Steve Gilbert, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) border clearance services director, told the Bay of Plenty Times last week import rules required PKE to be imported only from facilities approved and regularly audited in the exporting country. Mr Gilbert said the vessel was a bulk carrier and it appeared PKE from the unregistered facility had been stored with product from an approved facility, which may have resulted in contamination. "The danger is that the risk product could be carrying pests or diseases that could harm New Zealand's primary industries or natural environment. "Untreated PKE poses a biosecurity risk to New Zealand. PKE is produced at high temperatures, which reduces the biosecurity risk. So the main risk is contamination from insects or plant pests after production." http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11726623
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