SHIPS BAR-BOUND

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 304, 23 December 1943, Page 6

SHIPS BAR-BOUND

DELAY AT GREYMOUTH (0.C.) GREYMOUTH, Wednesday. Shipping interests are taking an increasingly serious view of the bar situation at the port of Greymouth and, with normal sailing schedules dislocated by the delays, no more Union Steam Ship Company vessels will be directed to Greymouth in the meantime. The position has arisen through silting as the result of* the low level of the Grey River, due to the dry spell over the past three months, coupled with rough seas on the bar. What is needed is a flood before any great improvement can be anticipated. Coal and timber shipments have been greatly impeded at Greymouth for many months, and the Midland line through the Otira tunnel is handling much greater quantities than ever before. The shipping situation has greatly retarded the completion of many North Island orders. Fiye vessels, the Gabriella. Poolta, Kartigi and Karepo, all bound for the North Island with coal, and the Holmlea for Picton with coal, are bar-bound. The depth on the bar at high water to-day had fallen to the lowest for many" years, 17ft 4in.