Less cargo offered for the Islands

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32498, 7 January 1971, Page 2

Less cargo offered for the Islands

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, January 6.

Cargo being shipped from Auckland to the Pacific Islands has decreased substantially in the last two or three weeks. When the Tofua sailed on December 31 she was several hundred tons short of a full load.

An expected drop in the shipments of bananas to New Zealand might also result in the withdrawal of one of the Union Steam Ship Company’s cargo ships—the Tarawera later this month.

The Pacific Islands manager for the company (Mr C. E. Pegram) said in Wellington today that the situation was being watched.

He considered that the fall off in cargo was not a trend, and that it was seasonal because of the Christmas and New Year holiday period. “It couldn’t actually be labelled as a drop in trade,” he said. The situation would be reviewed later this month after the warehouses and factories reopened.

Last year all the shippers and warehouses remained open over the holiday period, as they were desperate for space. A backlog of cargo 1 waiting to be shipped from Auckland for the islands had 'been caused by the Wainui dispute, which had delayed many ships. Mr Pegram said that the Tarawera, loading cargo at Wellington for the Islands, had just come off the orange trade between New Zealand and Australia. She had also loaded at Lyttelton and advantage had been taken while the ship was here to load cargo from the South Island and the lower North Island. She arrived at Wellington last 1 Thursday and should leave tomorrow. The goods are for I Samoa and Fiji. “I can’t see the calls at i

Wellington and Lyttelton being repeated, however," he said. “The quantity of bananas coming to New Zealand from the Islands is obscure and the last estimate before Christmas was that there were not sufficient quantities for three ships in the meantime.” Other refrigerated ships trading to the islands are the Tofua, which also carries passengers, and the Tavenui.

The Waimate is also in the general cargo trade. She is not refrigerated. She is under survey at Auckland until the end of the month.