Cargo streamlining in practice

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33120, 10 January 1973, Page 14

Cargo streamlining in practice

Today, Hie programming of shipping movements, allocation of cargo and piartnmg of timetables to prevent overlapping and catering for markets and seasons is a science. It can be a thankless task for all concerned and credit is rarely forthcoming. A typical example of modem streamlining is the homeward loading of the British refrigerated cargo liner Tongariro, at present in Lyttelton Many key people are involved. Two-port loading is common toThe Tongariro. which is discharging Lixerpool general cargo at Lyttelton after discharg Ing first at Wellington will also d scharge at Timaru and Dunedin. At Timaru and Bluff she will load meat, cheese and wool for Liverpool and Avonmouth She will not load elsewhere. Before the Second World War. homeward loading was a cumbersome. time-wasting and costh affair, involving man) calls, not only at main ports, but to ports which were then anchorage only, such as Tokomaru Bay. Gisborne and Napier, to mention a few. The meat loaders nf the South Island, situated at Timaru and Bluff, have played a big part fn streamlining New Zealand's export trade. Five years old. the 8233-ton

Tongariro cruises easily at 20 knots From Bluff to Liverpool should take only about 24 days. Nearly 91 vears ago. when the Albion Line's sailing ship Dunedin made history by taking New Zealand's first frozen meat cargo to Britain, she took 98 days for the passage The Dunedin, a Clyde-built Auckland class sailing ship, was equipped with a BellColeman refrigeration plant. She also carried cabin and steerage passengers Her meat cargo was a success and from that beginning today’s great meat export " irade by vessels such as the J Tongariro, developed. * On her outward voyage, the Tongariro made a brief call at 3 Pitcairn Island to discharge four i tons nf cement. Formerly owned J by the Neu Zealand Shipping r Company, which, like the Shaw e Savill and Alibon Company had great links with Pitcairn Island. • the Tongariro is now a member ' of the P and O general cargo 1 division She has brought the ' first British cargo to Lyttelton s this year and the first since Bri- ’ tain’s entry to the E.E.C. Most ** of her officers are former New 3 Zealand Shipping Company men. e j t’fi # st s During 1972. according to the Lyttelton Harbour Board, there n were 65 tanker visits to Lyttelton