The New Zealand Defense Force will temporarily take over transporting fuel around the country by land and by sea, after a backhoe accident ruptured the country's key fuel pipeline to Auckland.

The accident interrupted jet fuel deliveries from the Marsden Point Refinery to Auckland, causing disruptions to flight operations as well as flight cancellations and postponements.  Several international flights had to divert to Australia and Fiji to get fuel.  If you're planning on flying in or out of NZ, do check with your airlines or Auckland Airport's website for a full list of delays and cancellations.

But the pipeline also carried diesel and petrol, and several filling stations ran dry on Tuesday.  Petrol rationing is expected to last for at least a week while the government tries to cope:

Starting on Thursday, twelve New Zealand army drivers will be driving civilian tankers to transport aviation fuel.  Six will from Marsden Point to Auckland, the other six will move fuel from Wellington to Palmerston North and Napier.  This will be a round-the-clock operation that will last until 20 September, and officials say traffic lights will be synched to get tankers carrying fuel around Auckland more quickly.

This will be augmented by the Royal New Zealand Navy tanker HMNZS Endeavour, which will upload up to 4.8 million liters of diesel fuel from Marsden for delivery to ports around the country. 

"Endeavour can provide the equivalent of 150 road tankers of fuel," said Commander Joint Forces New Zealand Major General Tim Gall in an interview with Radio New Zealand.  "Deploying the ship will free up commercial tankers to reconfigure and focus on moving aviation fuel," he added, "This will help ease distribution issues in other regional centers."

The disruptions could impact Kiwi politics.  Prime Minister Bill English said he's taking the shortage "very seriously",  but Labour leader Jacinda Ardern is blasting the government for failing to invest in vital infrastructure:  "One pipeline and one digger and New Zealand grinds to a halt," said Ms. Arden.