‘Lines Should Pay Wharf Handling’

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30823, 7 August 1965, Page 3

‘Lines Should Pay Wharf Handling’

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND. August 6. Harbour boards were adamant shipping companies should pay for the handling of cargoes to or from the shed or wharf, the president of the Harbour Boards’ Association (Mr R. C. F. Savory) said in Auckland today.

He was commenting on a statement by the New Zea-land-European Shipping Association in Wellington yesterday which said shipping companies should pay only costs to and from the hook. A 10-man delegation from the Harbour Board’s Association, lead by Mr Savory, waited on the Minister of

Labour (Mr Shand) in Wellington yesterday. He said members were drawn from boards from Whangarei to Otago. The delegation was a result of shipping company approaches to the Minister. “This is a reaction to the shipping companies’ attempt to charge consignees and shippers the total costs of handling cargo to and from the hook, in addition to freight,” said Mr Savory. “Harbour boards throughout New Zealand oppose this imposition in the interest of merchants and the consumer (public who, in the end, are the ones that pay. “They are adamant that shipping companies should 'place and uplift cargo to or from the stack in the shed or wharf. “The costs so incurred should be the responsibility of the ship.” His association’s attitude was based on the system that had been so successful in the port of Auckland for the last 60 years, said Mr Savory.