Container cargoes from Canterbury

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32678, 6 August 1971, Page 1

Container cargoes from Canterbury

When the world’s largest refrigerated container ship, the 25,000-ton ACT 3 arrives in Wellington about August 18, it will load frozen meat, seed peas, crayfish, and pelts from Canterbury.

Loading of the container cargo began several days ago. The containers will be sent to Wellington by the rail-ferry service.

■The two freezing works in Belfast will send about 16 containers to the east coast of North America in the PACE Service ship. Each container will hold 17 tons of cut and cartoned beef. Another five containers, each holding between 11 and 14 tons of cut and cartoned lamb has been arranged. Methven peas Seed peas grown in the Methven district and destined for New York will fill one container. They have been sent to Christchurch for packing into the container. About seven tons of crayfish will be sent from Christchurch to be amalgamated with other crayfish tails to fill a container in Wellington. The ACT 3 will carry about 1800 bales of South Island wool. They will be taken in 18 20ft containers, each of which holds 56 bales, and 40ft containers holding 112 bales each.

Pelts from Christchurch will be packed on container flats which were specially developed after research by Captain R. M. Henshaw, Christchurch operations manager of Blue Star Port Lines (Management), Ltd. The ACT 3 will be the second container ship to load in New Zealand. By the middle of next year the PACE service will have another four similar ships running and offering fortnightly sailings between New Zealand and the North American east coast. New ohips A major European shipping line which works within the New Zealand-Europe shipping conference has decided to introduce three new 17,666-ton part - container ships to' the New Zealand trade, according •to a Press Association message from Auckland.

The company. Messageries Maritimes, is expected to replace its conventional freighters on this trade with the new ships. The first of the trio, the Zambeze, is on her maiden voyage to Auckland and is expected in port during Oc- ' toner. Her sister ships, Zeebrugge and Zanzibar, will join the service early next year. Both sister ships have been launched and are being fitted out at a Dunkirk shipyard. The French ships will be ■ able to carry 304 international containers above i decks and refrigerated and general cargo below. They are several thousand tons larger than the line's conventional freighters now in ser- . vice and have cruising speeds .of 21} knots, about three

knots faster than the older ships. About three years ago two Dutch companies which run a joint service to New Zealand introduced four new freighters capable of handling pallets, bulk, general and container cargoes. The ships, Leuve Lloyd. Loire Lloyd, Neder Lek and Neder Linge have been carrying limited numbers of containers since they entered service. Messageries Maritimes expects to reduce its nine an nual sailings to about six through the introduction of the new, faster, and larger ships.