Shipping Delays

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25878, 10 August 1949, Page 6

Shipping Delays

The statement of the British Minister of Transport (Mr Alfred Barnes) about unnecessary waste of hundreds of thousands of tons of British shipping in Commonwealth ports concerns New Zealand as much as any other Dominion, for, through the actions of her waterside workers, she shares responsibility for this waste. Though Britain is building faster and more efficient cargo ships, as the shipowners say in a statement printed on Monday, their increased speed and greater operating efficiency are nullified because the slow rate of working in New Zealand and Australian ports delays both discharging and loading. The slow turn-round of ships in New Zealand, with rises in building and operating costs, is one of the chief reasons for the general increase in

freight rates for refrigerated and general cargo shipped from the Dominion, which the shipowners announced this week. This announcement followed a previous statement indicating increases in the rates on cargo shipped to the Dominion. When the increased rates are operating New Zealand will have to meet extra costs in her overseas trade, which inevitably will be borne by the whole community, including the waterside workers. Higher costs for shipping refrigerated cargo will reduce the net return for New Zealand’s produce, and imported goods will cost more to bring here. Mr Barnes has appealed to waterside workers in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand for a greater spirit of co-oper-ation and understanding on the waterfronts. j !n New Zealand his appeal is likely to fall on deaf ears. Though the waterside workers have had generous treatment with rates of pay and working conditions they have not responded to it. As. the shipowners’ statement says, the whole experience of the New Zealand waterfront since the war has been one of continuous interruptions and delays, with little or no sign of .any improvement. The result is that British shipping and the people of New Zealand have to suffer because of the irresponsible actions of a section of the workers.