Lake Eyre still in port, six days late

Press, 26 June 1978, Page 6

Lake Eyre still in port, six days late

! The Lyttelton debut of a ' new bulk shipping service; [from Australia has been desi cribed by Canterbury shippers as "a disaster.”

The Lake Eyre, a new ' Australian National Lines : ship has been at the port ’ eight days now, instead of a i scheduled two-day call. She arrived last Sunday ; with a cargo of gypsum from Australia, to start a [new service to Auckland and : Lyttelton. At Auckland she had established a bulk cargo i discharge record of 4710 [[tonnes in 24 hours, using [shipboard cranes. Auckland Harbour Board Employees’ Union members and watersiders set the record without any objection to the use of the ship’s three specially designed bulk cargo cranes. The Lake Eyre arrived at

Lyttelton on June 18 to dis-p charge a further 5000 tonnes; i of gypsum. I She lost a day’s discharge Is because of weather; work! started on June 20, butp stopped soon after when!) Harbour Board employees ! wanted to use much older! I shore equipment rather than 11 the fast ship’s cranes.. Watersiders, meanwhile, stood idly by or worked ; bulldozers in the holds to pile up the cargo ready for ; a resumption of work. 1 A special meeting of the i Port Conciliation Committee, ! chaired by Mr R. H. Duff, ! ordered the Harbour Board 1 employees back to work on the afternoon of June 20, but it was too late to start ; discharging. i Union talks on the morn- I ing of June 21 caused a fur- 1 ther few hours delay, but by <

noon the ship was working, ’ using her own equipment., However, bad weather then . set in an earnest. Work stopped at the week-end with 1200 tonnes of gypsum still in the ship’s holds, but the crew hopes I that this will be discharged today. The delay with the new service has cost A.N.L. about $12,500 a day with the ship tied up at the wharf and further problems with the next cargo. She was) meant to have been at) McKay, Queensland, by June! 30 to load sugar for New! Zealand. The delay has affected the 19,564-tonne Nuruan phos-, phate ship Kolle D, which; arrived during the week-end to move into the Lake, Eyre’s berth, and the bulk-; discharge facilities.