Govt’s attitude to ports

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34009, 25 November 1975, Page 23

Govt’s attitude to ports

The Labour Government had a positive and progressive attitude towards port development, the Minister of Transport (Sir Basil Arthur) told about 30 people in St Martins on Thursday evening. Some harbour boards were losing money,, but the Government w r as prepared to subsidise them in the interests of regional development. The interim report on the Green Paper on transport said the Government intended strengthening legislation to strengthen the planning role of the New Zealand Ports Authority. Many conventional ports were concerned that much

of their cargo was likely to be diverted to container; ports, he said. “To some extent this is: probably inevitable, but' I recently obtained an undertaking from the European shippers that they will ensure that as much residual cargo as possible is carried through non-container ports, such as Bluff and Timaru. “Earlier predictions about containerisation have also changed a little with problems in containerising wool,; and as a result there is certainly a very active role for the smaller ports in handling wool by conventional means,” he said. Some shippers, such as the Scandinavian line, had; no plans to enter the container field, and would con-i tinue to use non-container I iports. I