PORT CONGESTION AT AUCKLAND

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 143, 30 March 1948, Page 6

PORT CONGESTION AT AUCKLAND

LOSS OF WORKING TIME DURING DISPUTES

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, March 29. One of the greatest tonnages of shipping ever assembled in the port of Auckland in peacetime will be alongside the wharves and at anchor in the stream to-morrow morning, when waterfront work will be resumed after the four-day Easter recess. Eighteen large overseas ships, will be in port, six of them swinging at anchor, and the mass of vessels will represent a total tonnage of 158,183 gross. Ten inter-colonial and large coastal vessels will bring the total to 183,103 tons gross. The previous postwar record was established after a long dispute of early last year, when 178,329 lons gross were in port on one day. The congestion of shipping, which is attributed largely to the loss of working time during the waterfront disputes earlier this month, is likely to remain a dominant feature of port activity for many weeks. Most of the six ships at anchor will not berth before next week, and by then other vessels will have arrived to maintain the long queue strung down the liarhour from the waterfront to North Head.