The Chevron fuel terminal in Dunedin was out of action yesterday for the third consecutive day after freezing conditions, then a computer fault, halted its gantry operations, leaving the BP depot to pick up the slack.
The terminal, in Fryatt St, was unable to operate on Tuesday morning after equipment and surrounding roads were affected by ice.
On Wednesday, a technical issue meant the fuel terminal was offline again, so all fuel tankers were filling up from the BP terminal instead, as part of an "industry agreement to ensure security of supply", Chevron spokeswoman Sharon Buckland said.
"It' s not unheard of for there to be sharing of terminals when there's a supply problem. We're grateful for BP to be extending the courtesy and we'd do the same for them."
Fuel suppliers are already flat out catching up on the backlog of long-haul shipments caused by bad weather earlier this week, which prevented delivery trucks from getting through to Central Otago and caused both of Wanaka's main service stations to run out of petrol.
A technician, equipped with a computerised diagnostic tool, flew into Dunedin on Wednesday night to work on the Chevron terminal issue, which was being given the company's "full attention", Ms Buckland said.
A "rare and expensive" computer card was believed to be the cause of the problem, so a replacement was shipped down yesterday on 24-hour loan from Chevron's Nelson terminal, which was consequently closed temporarily.
If the borrowed card fixed the gantry, it would be returned to Nelson and a new one ordered from Australia, meaning it would be "some days" before the Dunedin terminal would be back in operation.
"If it's not that then they've got to look at what else it could be."
Because the BP terminal had two gantries for tankers to fill from, Ms Buckland did not expect any more major issues with fuel deliveries in the interim.
"There's just going to be a little bit of congestion as everyone tries to fill up for the long-haul trips. And given, too, that they'd been trying to play catch-up from the weather conditions."
