Wool trade through Timaru likely to continue

Press, 25 August 1976, Page 3

Wool trade through Timaru likely to continue

, The Wool Marketing Corporation would like (to see as much wool as (possible continue to be exported through the secondary ports of Napier, Timaru, and Bluff. At the opening of the corporation’s new wool store in Blenheim Road last evening, its acting chairman (Mr J. Clarke) said the corporation had discussed wool exports with the Minister of Transport (Mr McLachla"', and had asked the New ZealandEuropean Shipping Association and SCANZEAL, a shipping company, for „ joint study of a non-container service to Napier, Timaru and Bluff.

Noting that major changes in shipping for wool would result from the planned shift from conventional to container shipping .on most of the major trade routes from New Zealand, Mr Clarke said that the corporation, which was responsible for arranging shipping services for wool, was concerned about L ; adverse effects of containers on secondary centres, and was investigating ways to minimise these effects.

At the same time, as the (major change to container (services was scheduled for 1977-78 it was necessary for the wool industry to develop the facilities and systems required by a container service. Most of the shipping companies on the major trade routes had decided to replace traditional services with container serviced. The trade to the east coast of North America was fully containerised; the United KingdomEurope service was now partly containerised and would be about 80 per cent containerised by 1978; and the Japan service would be almost fully containerised by early next year. Harbour boards and railways had invested heavily in container facilities and equipment, and New Zealand was committed to containerisation for its major trade routes. But a residual conventional service was expected to be maintained, for some years, particularly on the New

Zealand-Europe trade. To minimise the need to centralise wool secondary centres to the container ports, the corporation was investigating ways by which the conventional vessels could be concentrated on the secondary ports. The corporation was, however, most anxious to ensure that the service to wool sales at the secondary centres did not suffer as the conventional vessels were progressively phased out. Most shipping companies had announced plans to introduce container services, but SCANZEAL had not yet decided between containers and roll-on vessels. “Roll-on vessels are flexible, and their ability to call at non-container ports and their suitability for certain types of cargo, such as vehicles and unwieldy items, would make them an effective complement to the container vessels already programmed,” said Mr Clarke. “By serving secondary ports, roll-on vessels would reduce the need to centralise

iwool to container ports, and (would maintain part of the (traditional wool exports through secondary ports. “The cost of centralising to container ports could exceed S3M a year, even at present rail rates, reflecting a major allocation of internal transport resources to this activity.”

In officially opening the new store, which cost “something under S2M,” Mr Clarke said it covered more than five acres and included a covered platform of 8000 square feet for loading and unloading to and from rail. It would hold an estimated 39,000 bales when show stacked or 47.000 bales block stacked, which meant that it would have been filled to over-flowing by the corporation’s peak stockpile in Christchurch of 47,700 bales early last year.

Mr Clarke said he hoped that the corporation would make more money storing commercial goods in the new store than storing wool acquired when prices were depressed.