In recent weeks, several vessels have arrived in New Zealand waters with Covid-infected crew.
Container ship Mattina has spent nearly a month in quarantine at South Port, in Bluff, after 16 of its 21 crew tested positive for the virus.
This week, 11 of the crew on board Rio De La Plata, which was berthed in Tauranga until yesterday, also returned positive tests.
In October last year, a crew member on a ship which was heading for Port Chalmers from Lyttelton tested positive for what was later found to be a historical infection.
The ship remained anchored off the coast of Dunedin until it was determined to be "Covid-free".
Port Otago assisted the Southern DHB in getting medical officers out to the ship during that process.
While the infection turned out to be historical, it was a good practice run, Port Otago’s chief executive Kevin Winders said.
"That was our practice run, of sorts, and it went very well, so I feel confident we would be able to do it again," he said.
Yesterday, the 12 New Zealand port company chief executives met director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield in Wellington.
"He spoke to us about testing and where that was going, so that was really helpful to hear from him and share other experiences with ports.
"Meeting together ensures we are all defending the border," he said.
Port Otago had kept the same protocol for staff boarding vessels since last year’s Covid-19 lockdown, Mr Winders said.
"All the staff going on to ships use full PPE and separation to keep well away from the ship’s crew and that is now standard operating procedure for the port.
"We are well placed if the situation arrises," he said.
Any people arriving on ships who showed symptoms of the virus would be tested before any Port Otago staff went on board, Mr Winders said.
