Containers keep rolling on

Press, 27 February 1980, Page 17

Containers keep rolling on

One hundred per cent on schedule — that is the record of the Lyttelton Container Terminal. Since it opened in June, 1977, the terminal has handled 130 vessels, and all have sailed on schedule.

Operating one container crane, and recording net time worked at 88.77 per cent (the highest in New Zealand), the terminal has consistently shown the lowest figure in New Zealand for unproductive time delays.

International cargoes sound exotic, but coastal and Australian trade is important too —- in fact general goods handled at Lyttelton’s Seacargo Terminal total nearly 28 per cent of the total annua] tonnage. On average about 30,000 tonnes of cargo are handled at the Gladstone Pier Seacargo Terminal each week. Speed is the essence, with up to 40 containers an hour loaded or unloaded over the stern ramps using forklifts and front end loaders. Destinations include Wellington, Dunedin, Auckland, Nelson, Melbourne and Sydney, plus on-going cargoes for and from Adelaide and Hobart. About 95 per cent of the freight is carried in seafreighters, standard shipping units built for double stacking.