100 containers to stay in Auckland

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32700, 1 September 1971, Page 3

100 containers to stay in Auckland

GNew Zealand Press Association/

WELLINGTON, August 31.

The container ship ACT 3 left New Zealand with 32 refrigerated containers consigned to Wellington for the Columbus New Zealand, the Minister of Transport (Mr Gordon) told Parliament today.

He said the Colombus New Zealand would take from Auckland 48 refrigerated containers and 115 dry-goods containers consigned for ACT 3. The 100 containers left over would be handled by the Austral Patriot and other conventional vessels.

Mr Gordon was replying to! a Parliamentary question! from Mr E. E. Isbey (Lab.,; Grey Lynn) about a proposal; for an exchange of the loading residue of the two con-| tainer ships in Auckland and; Wellington.

The Minister said the Associated Container Transporation Company’s initial rejection of this proposal was not based solely on the cost of the rail transport, but mainly on technical grounds concerning refrigerated containers and their clip-on units. But the arrangement suggested had been carried out to the best advantage possible, and the ACT 3 had sailed directly for America, he said.

The cost of railing 109 containers to Wellington would have varied according to the commodities carried, but could be roughly assessed at $40,000, Mr Marshall said. “We will put containers on any ship we can,” a spokesman for Associated Container Transportation said in Auckland today.

Some containers might have to wait in Auckland up to two months, he said. The refrigerated containers of export meat could wait indefinitely without harm to the contents, but priority was being given to getting them away. Meat worth about sl.6m for the American market was left in Auckland when the ACT 3 sailed. The ACT 3 is due in Norfolk in mid-September, then i in New York, Boston and St iJohn (Canada). The company hopes to get the ship away again from North America

t before a threatened strike by > longshoremen on October 1. Had it called at Auckland it > would probably have been • caught by the strike. ' The A.C.T. spokesman said: 1 “It was not a matter of get--1 ting to the ports before the ■ strike, but of getting the : cargo unleaded and cleared through the ports. The ACT 3 is due back at New Zealand ports on October 27 and, if the left-behind cargo has not been cleared by then, it will pick up what is left. “It is hoped that the Canadian ports of St John and Halifax will not be affected by the longshoremen’s strike, and that New Zealand meat to fill the United States quota will be trans-shipped. It is believed that shippers are already quoting rates that include the trans-shipment cost.”

The Columbus New Zealand will continue loading in Auckland until about 10 p.m. tomorrow, to allow it to leave at 11 p.m. But whether all its available space is filled will depend on the watersiders’ speed in loading the containers.

Work reviewed Summing up the ACT 3’s loading today, the manager of the Wellington container terminal (Mr R. McKee) said things went reasonably well, considering that the cranedrivers had no great experience. -They had settled to their task well and had moved 700 containers while the ACT 3 was in port, he said. The best day’s tally was 140 containers on Sunday, a performance as good as that achieved in Australian ports when they started container loading, he said. Averages of between 15 and 20 containers an hour were attained in Wellington. “Once we get a proper terminal agreement on conditions of work and payment I i feel the men engaged on the ’ work will settle well into con-1 tainer loading and their per- i formances will be quite good,” said Mr McKee. i . He described the American i container trade as a complex one because of the number of < ports involved in North < America, Australia and New i Zealand. ■