AUCKLAND'S CARRYING TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 309, 30 December 1922, Page 4

AUCKLAND'S CARRYING TRADE.

1 NEW CAPITAL SEEKING EMPLOYMENT. I COMPETING WITH OLD LINES. , NEW IMPORTANCE OF NEW YORK. ! ; Bidding for freights is much the same . as bidding for commodities, and those who have cargo to ship will sell their [ patronage whore they find the best . bargain. As far as the New Zealand . export trade is concerned one of the i moat gratifying results of the presentE day competition in the shipping world • has been a reduction in the charges for th* transport of produce and meat dur- • ing this year. Those companies which - have been the pioneers in the develop- , ment of the large ocean-going fleet tlwit - now maintains regular services to the - United Kingdom and to America still \ handle the gTeat bulk of the cargo that annually finds its way into this little i Dominion. They handle the groat bulk. ; but they aTe not without competitors; - for capital, particularly American cap- , ital, is seeking employment to-day in i the carrying .trade to and from Xew • Zealand ports. But these new com--1 petitors have apparently, so far. been ? running a losing race. The old trade ; I connections are not easily broken, and * Union freighters are still gaining good - cargoes on the Pacific Coast. ' COMiPETITORiS WITH UNION' COMPANY. Until last year the Union Company practically held fhe monopoly of the ' cargo trade between the Pacific Coast and New Zealand. But last year several new compnnies entered the field. " i These companies have been gradually establishing a trade with Australia, but | the Canadian Government Merchant iMarine is the only one of them that is now running a regular anil efficient service to 'New Zealand. The other comi panics have been sending occasional - steamers from San Francisco, and are 1 called the Swayne and Hoyt Line and i the Yamaehita Kiscn Ivawha. AH three . of flic companies have been making r Auckland their only port of call, and r any cergo for southern ports is disi charged here. To show that they have r not yet proved very serious competir tors it is interesting to note that the 1 Wefit Mahwah (Swayne and Hoyl). - which arrived here on May 2nd brought V" only 420 tons for discharge. Contrast this with the 2000 tons brought by the '. Wairuna I Union seven (lays c later. On May 16th the Canadian - Transporter arrived here to discharge t -28O.OOr>fl of timber and TO tons of general cargo, a total of about TOO tons. c i The AVest IsliD (Swayne and Hoytt t j broutrht only 200 tone on -'une Tthiuvl v| on August Bth the Waiotapu (Union r Company) brought 3000 tons, out of y the exceptionally '.urge cargo of 12.000 c ton*. These figures give a good indicae tion of where the Auckland trade goes, c and fl contrast between the Las Yega-s ■:ind the Hauraki has the same story to J tell. n INCREASING N"EW YORK TRADTC. Of recent years the volume of trade ' c from the Atlantic Coast of America has been rapidly increasing" and the amount of the oargo discharged here ~ from Montreal. New York ami Texas i is second only to that from London, j I Liverpool and Glasgow. By the l>est ? steamers engaged in this* trade Auckland etande within thirty days of New York, and as Auckland is invariably the first port of discharge for steamer's of * I the Commonwealth and Dominion l-ine. f the Federal Line and the Train Line the , Inducements offered to importer- here are readily apparent. The Canadian ° I Government steamers make Auckland c I their final port, and this is an advanC i tage, too. for exporters have the opporf I tunity of landing their consignments in * ■ America earlier than they an by the r ; first-port steamers. The Ham steamers " always get good cargoes for Auckland. '" i The Tredcnham, which arrived here in '' ' May last, had r>ooo tons, and the Tre- '' mere, on August 31st, had 1800 tons. ' Though the Commonwealth and Domic , nion steamers have not been getting j large cargoes for Auckland, their efliJ cieney is widely recognised, and they '" ' possess the advantage, of fast steiuninZ ' , powers. The Port Campbell, for in- ,' i stance, arrived at Auckland on August v i"», 271 days after clearing New York, ■ ( | I and the Port Auckland recently accomn ' plished the voyage in just under 27 days. a j Both these arc new steamers, und as .. ■ they were on their maiden voyages when i they put up these performances the time is probably not far off when they will bring Auckland within 2fi days of NewYork, fn August the Port Adelaide did as good as that when she made her record run of 30 days from New York , to Brisbane. Like most of the other ; new steamers of this line, the three just ■d| mentioned were specially built for the '* Australasian meat trade. A good type of Wi what they are is the Port Hunter, which t! nrrived at Auckland on December 24. '"I N'KW ZEALAND-HOME TRADE. ,h ■ Cargoes outward to New Zealand hav c ]t'not been as. large generally as those j Homeward. a,nd occasional Shaw-favill steamers early in the year arrived hr>re I with small shipments. For instance, the j Zealandic and the Mahia. and later in ■July tho Wangaratta, came out in balj last to load on the coast for th-> New .'Zealand Shipping Company. The New . i Zealand Company and Federal I Steam Navigation Company, however. j have generally obtained good cargoes. 0 I On May 20 thf Rimhine arrived hero tn "" j discharge :ii2T> tons: the Kaikoiirn, on July Hi, with 3200 tons: the Middlesex, i_ j on October 27. with 4300 tons: and the n ! Suffolk and Kent at the end of NovemI bcr with 3300 tons and 3.SSS tons il • respectively. I' ' One feature of the year in connect ion •c with the United Kingdom trade.is the ■c : development of the trade to the West of j England ports and to Glaszow. Unforie ' tunately. the Wiltshire, which was to r- inaugurate a r?w service, and came out t. with 10.000 tons from Liverpool, met her *' doom on the Great Barrier within six hours of port, and the disaster dealt a y, , blow at the project from which it took in ; some time to recover. 1(1 ; INCREASE IN FREIGHTS. At the present time there are indicajj tions, based on figures taken during the ' past few months, which show a steady ; improvement in the shipping outlook. ■ and freights are on flic increase—at "j least no steamers have arrived lately £} from Great Britain with tarsoes nny- ' thing like as small as the Zealandie's t J last autumn. And from New York the indications of an all-round improvement i are just ac unmistakable. ' As far as inter-colonial shipping is concerned, what chiefly affected freights 't between Australia an.l New Zealand in "■ the early part of the year was the operation of tlu> Australian tariff. Only a )v sin all numlipr of steamers bppii st engaged in the trade outside the mail boats, and until recently their cargoes

have ranged from about 1000 tons to 1500 tons. The months of November and December are. of course, abnormal owing to the shipping strike and the interruptions in the regular running of passenger steamers which resulted from it. Trade with the Islands has continued aa usual, the cargoes being chiefly fniit, and the demand for phosphates has been met by shipments from Ocean Island and Nauru Island at intervals of about two months. Sulphur has been obtained from Texas by thn Tredenham and the Trcmaton, a total of 5000 tons; and slajr from Texas and Europe. THE MARINE AOCIDBNTP. The most serious of the marine accidents that occurred in and around Auckland was the wreck of the Wiltshire, but the mishap to the Rona on Canoe Rock] was as singular as it was unfortunate. The Helen B. Sterling met her fate early in the year in a terrific easterly gale, and the Malahat (schooner) put into here last regatta day with a broken rudder post and much battered by heavy i weather. The tipping of the Tredenham at the Central wharf for extensive repairs to her propeller was aleo the outcome of a buffeting in a South Pacific storm during her run to Auckland.