KVH will be at the Port of Tauranga over the coming weeks, highlighting frontline efforts to ensure a pest-free environment.

There are many enthusiastic people who work on and around the Port who know biosecurity is a critical issue, affecting everyone in some way. With hundreds of people operating on the frontline of the Port community daily, we have lots of eyes constantly on the lookout for unwanted pests.

The Port deals with millions of tonnes of cargo each year, and around 100 cruise ships over every summer, so we all need to be ready, vigilant, and watchful.

Biosecurity matters at Ports because it is also a significant business risk. The frontline staff we’ll be meeting with and talking to - such as stevedores, and straddle/crane drivers - are the best placed to initially notice and report anything unusual. Our key message is if something happens, there will be a cost to you, your job, or your business, and you need to know what you can do to stop it.

As the organisation responsible for leading biosecurity preparedness on behalf of the kiwifruit industry, KVH partners in this initiative alongside the Port of Tauranga and the local Biosecurity New Zealand team.

Other activities with the Port community include staff from Biosecurity New Zealand visiting transitional facilities across the Bay of Plenty to share up-to-date information about managing risk and distribute useful collateral such as the ever popular 12 most unwanted pests calendar produced by the partnership, and both Biosecurity New Zealand and KVH taking part in pre-cruise season briefing sessions for the Port’s security staff.

You can see online versions of the resources we’ll distribute this year here:

• Annual pest calendar September 2024 - August 2025
• "Most unwanted pests” playing cards
• Spot it, snap it, report it frontline lunch bags