Significance to New Zealand forestry of contaminants on the external surfaces of shipping containers

Abstract

A sample, comprising 3681 shipping containers, was selected randomly from containers landed at the ports of Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttelton in the period from September 1997 to May 1998. Each selected container was placed on a frame and all six sides of the container were examined for the presence of soil, plant, animal, or inorganic matter. Isolations for fungi were made from all soil samples found on containers (1150 in total) and nematodes (and other soil meso- and micro-fauna) were extracted from 347 soil samples. All plant material was examined microscopically for the presence of pathogens. The insects, spiders, and other animals were identified as far as possible and their pest status was determined. A container was classified as "quarantinable " if any of the contaminants found on it included either viable pests or viable fungi belonging to genera which include plant pathogens or plant parasitic nematodes. Of the 3681 containers examined, 2240 (61%) carried no contaminants, 580 (16%) carried non-quarantinable contaminants, and 861 (23%) carried quarantinable contaminants. Among the quarantinable contaminants were pathogenic species of Fusarium and a live egg mass of the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar (Linnaeus)). The quarantinable contamination rate of containers originating in different parts of the world varied from region to region: for example, it was 13.7 % for containers originating from Korea, Taiwan, and Japan; 20.9%