The Press TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1969. The Maheno Service

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31986, 13 May 1969, Page 16

The Press TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1969. The Maheno Service

The recent announcement by the Union Steam Ship Company that it will impose no surcharge on Lyttelton cargo using its roll-on ship, Maheno, must have pleased Canterbury manufacturers and other exporters and importers interested in trans-Tasman trade. Canterbury manufacturers joined last year in an effort to obtain a regular trans-Tasman service for Lyttelton and, more recently, to resist an extra freight charge for the service. The manufacturers must now attempt to justify their own expectations that they can produce a regular and-adequate flow of cargo to ensure that the service is economic. Although the Union Company has spoken of its wish to help in the development of trade—and that, after all, will be in the company’s interests-r-it is likely to be sensitive to any evidence that the Lyttelton calls by the Maheno are making the whole service unprofitable. Last year the company made a profit of $135,000, or 1 per cent on shareholders’ funds; the previous year it made a loss of $543,000. It is not unreasonable to hope, however, that the Lyttelton trade, encouraged by the regularity of the service, may actually improve the profitability of the service. Provided that the expectations of the Canterbury manufacturers are upheld Lyttelton should produce a fifth to a quarter of the vessel’s outward and inward cargoes when Auckland and Wellington fill the rest of the cargo space.

Although manufactured goods and timber will constitute the greater part of outward cargoes from Lyttelton an important share of the trade belongs to merchants exporting peas, grain, and small seeds. Their sales to Australia are seasonal, vary from year to year, and often are made at short notice. The regular fortnightly service from Lyttelton to Sydney should assist the merchants greatly. The Maheno may wrest some business back from the airlines. Several Christchurch manufacturers have turned to air transport because of the uncertainties of shipping. The Maheno will be calling—initially—at Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and again at Wellington on each voyage. Since Lyttelton will be all but the last call on the New Zealand coast the service may prove attractive to shippers of livestock to Australia. Other cargo for which there is a good export trade includes carpets, glassware, foodstuffs, confectionery, frozen foods, fish, woollen goods, refrigerators, rubber footwear and other gopds, and industrial and agricultural machinery. A growing market for furniture is in prospect. Imports from Australia to Lyttelton do not lend themselves so well to carriage in this type of vessel; but the restoration of a regular shipping service between the South Island and Australia may call forth a surprising volume of east-bound cargoes.

A second roll-on vessel, the' Marama, should begin a regular service to Melbourne in about six months. The longer voyage on this run and the doubtful merit of dividing the Lyttelton cargo would seem to preclude Lyttelton’s inclusion in the Marama’s timetable. The spreading of northern cargoes between the two ships may, of course, increase the significance of Lyttelton’s contribution to the Maheno’s total trade. The two ships will alter the pattern of trade for other vessels capable of carrying only bulk cargoes. But however the new services are arranged they should provide a welcome answer to a longstanding complaint about irregular service by shippers, not only in Canterbury but in all parts of New Zealand.