What lessons have we learned?

New Zealanders these days take full supermarket shelves for granted. Only a few have seen food shortages, usually during times of war, rationing or natural disaster.

While New Zealand has a robust and resilient food supply network, it was sorely tested by a broken weld on an obscure pipe under the rugged North Taranaki countryside.

Commissioned in 1973, the 307 kilometre Maui pipeline supplies Taranaki gas to the upper North Island. On 25 October 2011, that gas stopped flowing after a major leak was discovered. It is likely underground earth movement broke a weld and cracked a small segment of the more than 30-year-old pipeline.

Overnight, 255,000 people were affected by this disruption. It is fair to say that nobody really seemed to be aware of the North Island’s gas supply vulnerability. There were seemingly no back-up systems or contingency plans.

When the Maui pipeline sprang a leak, the immediate impact on the food industry was debilitating.

A number of major Food and Grocery Council (FGC) members had to completely halt production in the days after. Many other businesses in the region suffered similar hardships.

Remaining gas supplies were understandably prioritised to residential dwellings and designated essential services. It quickly became clear however that certain staple foods needed to be redesignated as essential. Regrettably, a number of initial applications to make this happen were declined outright.

The Council moved quickly to work with FGC members, Energy Minister Hekia Parata and her officials, the Gas Industry Company (GIC) and finally the rather elusive “Critical Contingency Operator” (CCO). It was only when faced with the stark reality that Auckland was only days away from completely empty bread shelves that the GIC and CCO realised that upgrading the designation of selected factories was critical.

As a result, members were able to crank up their production, albeit on a limited basis, and a food crisis was averted. Over the following days, the FGC and members pushed the case for sugar, yeast and breakfast cereals to join the list. Our focus was on essential staples for domestic consumption.

Now that the gas supply has been restored, it is time to reflect on what we have learned from this disaster. Clearly, our dependence on a single aging gas pipeline will need to be reviewed. As an industry, we also need to further raise the priority of food production with all decision-makers. Basic food products should be considered “essential” in situations such as this. There should not be the need for protracted debate or the threat of shortages to prompt action.

We need to ensure that decision-makers understand the key role food security plays after any disaster. People can rationalise the absence of many things, but food is not one of them. If there is even a whiff that food is running out, the situation can turn ugly quickly with panic buying, hoarding or even worse.

The Council has made this point many times, but never quite as eloquently as British MP Lord Cameron of Dillington. He said we are all just “nine meals away from anarchy”. If people are short of food for three days, he argues, the thin veneer of our civilisation rips away and it is basically all on.

Our priority is to ensure basic food production is properly classified in any future disasters. In addition, the Council is canvassing members about industry specific issues and will be seeking a meeting with the Gas Industry Company to discuss those concerns. The question of compensation is ongoing and will be largely left to the lawyers.

The Minister of Energy has correctly instigated a review of the leak and the subsequent response. We will be making our members’ views heard in that process. While the Maui gas leak certainly tested our food supply network, it did not break, but there are certainly things we can do better next time.