COMPETITION IN SHIPPING

Press, Volume C, Issue 29643, 13 October 1961, Page 19

COMPETITION IN SHIPPING

Dutch Fight For N.Z. Trade

1 Competition is .increasing ■ between the New Zealand ’ Conference Lines and Dutch 1 shipping. “The Times” [ shipping correspondent re--1 ports that it was a sad day for British shipping when ’ the Dutch were thrown out of the Indonesian trade. : “Since 1958 there has been 5 a constant flow of applica- • tions from displaced Dutch E ships for entry into’ other trades • or for increased shares largely at the expense of British lines. "So thrustful has Dutch activity been in a host of trades that At IS - legitimate to wonder whether the number of Dutch ships already rehabilitated in other trades does not exceed th* number originally displaced from their own.” I The correspondent sfays , that the latest pressure point , is in the New Zealand trade, where Dutch ships are curi rently seeking to expand their share of both passengers and cargo. [ In the passenger trade two i Dutch lines, the Nederland , and the Royal Rotterdam , Lloyd were formally admit- ! ted into the Australian and , New Zealand some ; time ago with three passen- . ger lines. Now • they are operating , three more on a regular , basis at cut nates and oUt- : side Conference. British lines, claiming that the berth ■ is,,amply covered, are not . taking kindly to the move. Cargo Service ■ At the same time two : Dutch lines, having already . opened a monthly direct cargo service from northern Europe to New Zealand ’ about a year ago, are seeking now to participate in : the homeward trade instead of picking up tramp cargoes for the return voyage as hitherto. British lines—Shaw Savill, New Zealand Shipping, Port and Blue Star lines—are resisting the move by introducing more Continental sailings themselves. “All in all, the Dutch have upset a good many applecarts since suffering the experience themselves, and in the process a good deal of friction has been generated,” the correspondent says.