Freight “Only Small Part”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31349, 20 April 1967, Page 29

Freight “Only Small Part”

“Whilst it is not denied that freight and wharf landing charges have increased, these items are only a small part of the total cost structure, and to blame the increased whisky and brandy prices on these items only, as implied in "The Press’ report of April 14, is a distortion of the actual facts,” the branch manager of the New Zealand Shipping Company (Mr G. F. Phillips) said in a statement yesterday. Mr Phillips was referring to a report which quoted a spokesman for Mating and Company, Ltd., as saying that one increase was the result of “higher landing and freight charges through Lyttelton.” “Would it not be a more accurate statement of fact to say that all costs, from the time the merchant writes out his order on his supplier overseas to the time he passes the bottles of spirits to the consumer, have increased? “Three years ago the sea freight on a bottle of whisky worked out at approximately 14.4 d a bottle, it is now 15.6 d,. a rise of 1.2 d a bottle, which is only a small proportion of the increased price of whisky,” Mr Phillips said.