Lyttelton First Port For Six Ships A Year

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29801, 18 April 1962, Page 24

Lyttelton First Port For Six Ships A Year

In future, at least six ships a year will make Lyttelton their first port of call in New Zealand when sailing from the United Kingdom to this country. This decision has been made by the Conference Lines and was conveyed yesterday to the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association by the Overseas Shipowners’ Committee in Wellington.

The Conference Lines have advised that they have been able to arrange for every alternate vessel proceeding via Fiji to New Zealand to call at Lyttelton first, thus providing six first-port calls for Lyttelton every year. The new programme will begin with a London sailing on June 21, followed by a sailing from the same port on August 16, October 11 and December 6. These vessels will replace the Scheduled Auckland, thence to Lyttelton, sailings on the same date. The Conference Lines also advise that wherever possible endeavours will be made to make Lyttelton the first port of call for relief ships—vessels needed whenever too much cargo means a doubl-ing-up of sailings. “Arranging outward sailings

on the basis of maintaining established calls has, in recent times, not been made easier by stricter import licensing,” says the letter from the Overseas Shipowners' Committee. "The Lines sincerely trust that the new arrangement in the middle of the year will serve to show importers that they have regard to the requirements of North Canterbury and, no doubt, part of Mid-Canterbury, served by the Port of Lyttelton.” the letter concludes. The news that six ships would make Lyttelton the first port of call each year was welcomed by the president of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association (Mr R. H. Stewart) and the secretary-manager of the Lyttelton Harbour Board (Mr A. L. Burk). “Our association has been pressing this point for a number of years and joined the Harbour Board in an emphatic protest when it was announced by the Conference Lines in October last year that there tvould be no ships making Lyttelton the first port of call for the first six months of this year,” said Mr Stewart.

“This new arrangement could be the beginning of a new era at the port with the

Tunnel Road ahead of schedule and the major harbour extensions project going well. "The combination of these factors should give new encouragement to existing industries in the province and should assist in attracting new industries and, consequently, lead to more tonnage going through the port. “The direct sailings should streamline rises in our big cost factor, freight charges, and reduce the time taken for arrival of urgently-needed materials,” Mr Stewart said. Mr Burk said that while the announcement did not cover everything the Harbour Board wanted, it was a satisfactory first step and the board would thank the Conference Lines for their consideration A spokesman for the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, which has also been pressing for Lyttelton as first port of call for ships sailing from the United Kingdom, also welcomed the news. The president of the Canterbury Progress League, Mr B. J. Drake, said that although the move was only a start, it was a move in the right direction and the league hoped that importers would, where possible, endeavour to arrange shipments to be made on the dates announced. It was only by making full use of the facilities now offered that Canterbury could hope for any further extension.