Freezing Companies Agree Over Ports

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31499, 13 October 1967, Page 26

Freezing Companies Agree Over Ports

There was general agreement among freezing companies with the decision of the Meat Board and the Overseas Shipowners’ Committee to send South Island meat for London and Liverpool through Timaru and Bluff, Mr J. A. G. Fulton, chairman of the South Island Freezing Companies’ Associatjpn, said yesterday.

However, there would still be a lot of meat going through Lyttelton, he said. This included ewe mutton for Japan, meat for Avonmouth and other British subsidiary ports, and the west coast of North America.

Some companies had minor reservations about the use of Timaru, but generally agreed witt the Meat Board’s propoMls, he Mid. The board had met the association on Monday and assurances had been given that any extra transport costs during a trial period from January to September, next year, would be met by the board. The Railways Department had given an assurance that it would give a first-rate service, and with a concentration of export ports there

could be considerable saving to New Zealand as a whole, Mr Fulton said. When all the meat for London and Liverpool was going through the two South Island ports with mechanical meat loaders there could be regular services. The situation where seven ships arrived in one week and then hardly any for the next three weeks would be avoided. He hoped there would be more orderly marketing of meat in the United Kingdom as a result, Mr Fulton said. With a lot of meat still going through Lyttelton, the freezing companies would cooperate with the Lyttelton Harbour Board in an experimental loading of the Adelaide Star, he said. They were keen to see any improvement that could be achieved.