RISE IN SEA FARES

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32560, 20 March 1971, Page 18

RISE IN SEA FARES

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Mar. 19. Two large shipping firms have increased their passenger fares. A spokesman for the Union Steam Ship Company, the agents for P and O, said today that all fares had risen. The average increase was 10 per cent, he said. To travel from Auckland to Sydney in a four-berth, tourist class cabin now cost $B4, whereas before the rise it was $75. A first-class passage for the same trip has risen by $11 —from $lO5 to $ll6. A single ticket for the cheapest tourist class passage from Auckland to Vancouver now cost s4s6—an increase of $45. The passage between New Zealand and the United Kingdom, via South Africa, during the tourist season, has risen in price from $523 to $585.

Bookngs and deposits made before March 8, when the increases came into effect, are

valid at the old rates until June 30. The rising costs of all commodities throughout the world make the increases necessary, he said. In particular, the cost of fuel oil had sky-rocketed over the last few years. Fares on Shaw Savill liners to the United Kingdom and South Africa also increased on March 8. Over the 48 categories of fares the

average increase was 10 per cent, a spokesman for the company said. Passages booked before March 8 were valid at the old rates until May 31.

It is about the third time in the last year that these fares' have increased, he said. General rises in costs throughout the world made the increases necessary. Trans-Tasman fares are now under negotiation, and may possibly increase in the future, he added. The Auckland agents for the Sitmar, Chandris, and Lloyd Triestino Lines said that these companies had not yet increased their fares, but the general opinion was that such increases would not be long in coming.

Shantytown visit

A party of 40 Canterbury travel agents will travel to Shantytown near Greymouth next Saturday. They will familiarise themselves with the attraction and take publicity photographs, mainly for United States promotion. The visit is sponsored by Air New Zealand.