The Press THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1968. Tasman Shipping

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31830, 7 November 1968, Page 10

The Press THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1968. Tasman Shipping

The Union Steam Ship Company’s decision to include Lyttelton on the list of New Zealand ports to be served by the new roll-on service across the Tasman is a gain for South Island interests. They should not be content with half a loaf. The service now proposed by the company will link Lyttelton with Sydney, but not Melbourne; and the company proposes to impose a “ nominal ” additional charge on South Island cargoes. If, as seems likely, it intends to make Lyttelton the third port of call in New Zealand for one of its two new vessels, the company will certainly incur extra costs, which* would justify the additional freight charge. But if the company scheduled one of its ships to call at Lyttelton instead of Wellington it would incur virtually no extra costs, and the justification for the higher charge on South Island cargoes would disappear. The company will be loath to exclude Wellington from even half its sailings unless it is persuaded that it would not lose any cargo by doing so. The Lyttelton Harbour Board, the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, . the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, and other interested parties may be able, soon after the new service starts, to produce the evidence needed to convince the company. In any event, a survey of users of the new service to ascertain how much cargo thy were also sending to be transhipped at Wellington—and how much cargo they were sending by air—would be valuable in itself. In the meantime, it is important to fill all the cargo space allotted in the Maheno for its Lyttelton calls. This will be necessary if the service is to be maintained, let alone improved.