COAST COAL FOR JAPAN

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28701, 26 September 1958, Page 13

COAST COAL FOR JAPAN

Use Of Lyttelton Discussed

The use of Lyttelton for the shipment of 10,000 tons of coal from the West Coast to Japan is being discussed among the Mines Department, the Railways Department and the Lyttelton Harbour Board, and if a Japanese order is placed for the coal there is unlikely to be any difficulty. If anything prevents the sale of the coal to Japan it is likely to be the cost. The Minister of Mines (Mr Hackett) said in the House of Representatives recently that an order for 10,000 tons of coal for overseas had almost been won until it was found that only vessels with a capacity of about 3000 tons could use the ports on the West Coast. He had, therefore, begun negotiations with the Minister of Railways (Mr Moohan) to have the coal railed to Lyttelton.

Mr A. L. Burk, secretarymanager of the Lyttelton Harbour Board, said yesterday that the board had been asked whether it could handle the coal as it arrived from the West Coast Provided there was the rolling stocky there would be no difficulty, he said. The Mines Department had also asked for the wharfage charges and other port dues, and these had been supplied. The District Traffic Manager of Railways (Mr C. J. Millin) said there would be no difficulty in railing the coal from the West Coast.

If the coal is shipped to Lyttelton it will be in high-sided waggons and will be loaded with grabs. Hopper waggons used to load coal at West Coast ports are not generally fitted with the airbrakes required of rolling stock used on the line to Christchurch. Several thousand tons of coal were shipped to New Caledonia recently through West Coast ports, but the Japanese require bigger shipments than can go from the coast ports. Japanese businessmen have been on the West Coast recently taking samples of coal from several mines.