‘Terms Dictated By Shipowners’

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31760, 17 August 1968, Page 40

‘Terms Dictated By Shipowners’

(New Zealand Press Association) HAMILTON, August 16. It was idle to suggest that New Zealand could dictate the terms on which overseas shipowners would serve this country, said the chairman of the Transport Commission (Judge K. G. Archer) in a paper presented at a roadtransport symposium in Hamilton today.

It was equally idle to hope that competiton between shipowners could be relied on to give the form of shipping service New Zealand thought best, he said. “AU we can do, if we be. lieve that one form of service is preferable to another, is to persuade the shipowners to provide us with such a service. I venture to suggest

that the type of shipping which carries our overseas trade will be decided, not by public opinion in New Zeaj land or by the Government direction, but by the shipowners.” Judge Archer said: "1 firmly believe that the Conference Lines favour the introduction of a limited container service in 1972, but they have given no firm undertaking to do so. The prospect of a container service is therefore not sufficiently assured to justify major capital investments. “If containerisation is

adopted, even to the limited extent envisaged by the Molyneux report, the operations of small town and rural carriers may not be greatliy affected. “But there will be great opportunities for major transport organisations with foresight, courage, and capital resources. “While this is time for

long-term planning, it is not time for panic action. Containerisation will not engulf New Zealand like a bush fire. It will not, in the first instance, take over all our overseas trade. It will not be here

in a big way before 1972.”