Containers “Not The Answer” For N.Z.

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31654, 15 April 1968, Page 8

Containers “Not The Answer” For N.Z.

(flew Zealand Press Association) WHANGAREI, April 14. A go-slow policy on container shipping for New Zealand was recommended by Mr W. F. Fraser, a Northland Harbour Board member, who on a private tour abroad observed cargo handling in many countries.

Mr Fraser said he believed containers were not the answer “to New Zealand’s shipping freight problems. Time should be taken to fully in vestigate other methods of mechanised loading. He said Scandinavian countries. with a trade pattern similar to that of New Zealand. would have nothing to do with containers. They had developed their own forms of unit loading, which meant a smaller capital investment foi their shipping companies. It was also found that pal lets were cheaper to carry empty one way than were con tainers. “I found in my travels that the question of extending the general use of containers beyond the stage where they are

full both ways is filled with doubt and controversy among people whose every interest is in reducing freight costs,” Mr Fraser said. “The lesson we in New Zealand should learn is that before we embark on the huge national expenditure involved in fitting our ports, railways, trucking industry, and warehouses for container handling we should endeavour to obtain more co-operation between the shipping companies and the cold stores, meat works, dairy board, stevedores, and waterside workers.” Mr Fraser said there was no doubt that containers for certain types of cargo in some places represented a great advance on old-time cargo handling methods. But by comparison these countries had enormous populations, were highly industrialised and their imports more nearly balanced their exports, he said.