Chamber To Study Cargo Delays

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30762, 28 May 1965, Page 12

Chamber To Study Cargo Delays

The Canterbury Chamber of Commerce will carry out a survey for a month to obtain an analysis on delays in cargo deliveries between ships and consignees’ stores.

This was agreed to by representatives of Canterbury organisations who met in Christchurch yesterday to discuss delays in the clearance of goods from Lyttelton.

All organisations represented at the meeting, including the Lyttelton Waterside Workers’ Union and the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, agreed to co-operate with the chamber in helping the investigation. The meeting was called by the chamber, and the chairman of the chamber’s transport committee (Mr R. C. Wallace) presided.

Mr Wallace said there had been many attempts over the years to improve deliveries. Past delays were attributed, in varying degrees, to haphazard discharge of cargo from the ship; faulty stowing of railway waggons at Lyttelton: inadequate handling facilities at rail; inadequate facilities at business premises; reluctance of consignees to accept cargo at certain times of the day; carriers’ inability to cope with railway overtime discharge; and delays in customs clearance.

The meeting agreed that delivery that took longer than one week constituted a cargo delay. The results of the survey will be made known to the interested organisations. Organisations present at yesterday’s meeting included the chamber, the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, the waterside workers’ union, the railway servants’ union, the Port Employers’ Association, the Lyttelton Harbour Board, the Canterbury Wholesale Hardware Merchants’ Association, the Customs Department, the Canter-bury-Westland Retailers’ Association, the Canterbury Road Transport Association, the Christchurch Fruit and Vegetable Wholesalers’ Association, the New Zealand Engineers’ Merchants’ Association, the Christchurch Motor Trade Association, the Overseas Ship Owners’ Committee, the New Zealand Society of Customs Agents, the Railways Department, and the Canterbury Plumbers’ Merchants’ Association.