Container Shipping Talks In Sydney

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31058, 13 May 1966, Page 14

Container Shipping Talks In Sydney

(■Special Correspondent N Z.P.A.) SYDNEY, May 12. A conference on container shipping being held in Canberra this week is likely to have a considerable effect on New Zealand’s overseas shipping trade in the years to come.

It has become apparent in Sydney that the revolutionary method of shipping cargoes in containers will be adopted on the Australia-Britain-Europe run in the next few years, and observers say the development is certain to be extended to New Zealand.

Representatives of overseas shipping companies, shippers, land transport carriers, port authorities, trade unions and the Government are attending the conference, which was called by the Department of Trade and Industry, to discuss the eventual introduction of containerised shipping. Under the system cargoes are pre-packed in large metal containers away from the wharf, loaded on to vessels, and then opened at the other end by the importer. The system reduces shipping loading

and unloading time and increases handling efficiency, thereby reducing freight costs. Quick Introduction

With freight rates on wool and refrigerated cargo on the Australia-Britain run having increased by 100 per cent since 1949, and Australia’s current freight bill running at about £240 million a year, the Government has made it clear to the shipping companies that it expects “containerisation” to be introduced quickly. The Department of Trade

is believed to want the system introduced within three to five years, and observers at the conference say the major shipping lines, led by P. and 0.-Orient Line, also favour quick moves in this direction.

P. and O. revealed at the conference that it has already bought three acres of land in Britain for use as package and storage areas and is considering the London port of Tilbury as its British container terminal. Clear Lead

Observers say that P. and 0., which has the funds necessary for the revolutionary change, has in the consortium Overseas Containers, Ltd., which it set up with other companies, a clear lead in the field over its more conservative and less wealthy rivals. Sir Andrew Crichton, the managing-director of P. and O. and chairman of Overseas Containers, Ltd., has been the most vocal of overseas representatives at the conference and bluntly told delegates that cargo was still being handled in the same way that the Phoenicians used.

He stressed that it was out of date to handle cargo four or five times, and said that his company was forging ahead with plans to introduce the new system between Britain and Australia.

He said that the capital cost would be enormous, estimating that each container—about 20ft long by Bft wide and Bft high—would cost between £5OO and £6OO. He also said that new ships would have to be bought as well.