N.Z. “cannot be too proud of shipping”

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32903, 29 April 1972, Page 2

N.Z. “cannot be too proud of shipping”

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, April 28.

New Zealand’s shipping system had fallen down because of a failure to grasp modern technology, particularly in the utilisation of manpower, both on and off the ships, the Minister of Transport (Mr Gordon) said today.

Addressing an Otago Chamber of Commerce transport seminar in Dunedin, Mr Gordon said that shipping was one transport mode of which

New Zealand could not be too proud.

The modem ferry service from Dunedin to northern ports provided by the

Wanaka went part of the way towards modern automation, he added. “But it can still be improved upon, particularly in relation to the number of men required to work such a vessel,” he said. “At its respective ports, it requires an expeditious turnround. The capital invested in today’s modern ships is enormous. For example, the fourth rail-ferry now being built in France was originally estimated at some $4 million. “Its eventual cost will be well over $lO million. That $lO million should be utilised 24 hours of the day, every day of the week, and this means rotating crews, shift work on the wharves, etc.” “NAIVE” The Minister described those who welcomed the Union company’s move to give a direct South IslandAustralia shipping service as “somewhat naive.” “There is another side to every penny,” he said. “Certainly the South Island is getting a direct service to Australia, but those who export on a regular weekly basis from the South Island at a national equalised price

stand to lose the regularity. They have a weekly service, and if they propose to shift their goods to the North Island for transfer on the weekly service, it is now obviously going to cost them more.

“The plain economic facts are that it is in the national interest for the Union Company to move a greater tonnage of goods across the Tasman. “OTAGO WINS”

“To do this, it has to use the Hawea, and the best way to use her is on the South Island-Tasman run. So Otago wins, with a direct service, but some South Island exports will lose a regularity they have had over the last few years.”