Spanish Crew Not “Cheap” Labour

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30471, 19 June 1964, Page 1

Spanish Crew Not “Cheap” Labour

(Neto Zealand Press Association)

TIMARU, June 18.

The Spanish crew employed on the 12,222ton Shell tanker, Area, now on the New Zealand coast, is not “cheap” labour, her chief officer, Mr C. E. van.’T Woudt, said today.

The Area berthed at Timaru today from Wellington to discharge 4160 tons of petrol and gas oil, the first cargo from the new Marsden Point refinery. She is operated by the Dutch subsidiary company of Shell Tankers, Ltd. “We are not using cheap labour by having a Spanish crew,” Mr van ’T Woudt said. “They are paid just as Dutch sailors would be paid, which is, I believe, slightly above the rates for English seamen.”

Mr van ’T Woudt said he had heard'that the New Zealand Seamen's union was concerned at the employment of a Spanish crew on the grounds that it was cheap labour “in a field where the Government had given an assurance that no cheap labour would be used.” Dutch Labour Shortage

Asked why the Area had a Spanish crew, Mr van ’T Woudt said: “We can’t get enough Dutch to sail. There is a shortage of labour in Holland.” The. chief officer said the Area, which uplifted 17,000 tons of petrol and gas oil from Marsden Point, would leave for Indonesia after completing her discharge tomorrow morning, and he did not

expect her to return to : New Zealand in the near future. The Government, the seamen’s union, and the oil companies have agreed on a delay of three months from the opening of the refinery before discussing the question of foreign labour and ships, so there will be actual operating experience to provide practical information about the pattern and cost of the trade. Since the refinery opened, oil companies have retained international pool tankers on the coast for up to two months' after arrival from overseas: