Trade creators through the ages

Press, 20 October 1981, Page 18

Trade creators through the ages

Cargo ships play a very important role in helping New Zealand to trade with other countries. ■<"</■

For hundreds of years they have helped trade throughout the world.

It was cargo ships that first took people from Europe to North America, where they settled. The same ships brought back lots of different goods from North America to Europe. The cargoes included potatoes and tobacco — goods that had never been seen in parts of Europe. ■ Originally, the cargo ships carried a variety of things. Barrels of flour, wine, live animals, meat carcases, coils

of rope, and stacks of timber were all, mixed up together. It took a long time to load and unload the boxes, barrels. crates, and loose cargo such as coal.and gravel. But. today the way of moving cargo has been greatly improved. Ships now carry . either bulk or container cargo. . Coal and oil are bulk cargoes. They are poured into the hold 'or sucked out at great speed by rtiachines.

Other kinds of cargo such as furniture, books, radios, pens, and cars are all packed into large containers.

Grain, such as wheat, oats, barley, and rye. does not have to be pul into sacks. It

is loaded and unloaded through great pipes. Coffee is -usually packed in sacks, but cranes move large numbers of sacks at one time.

Containers are designed to fit exactly into certain parts of ships. '

But today the most important bulk cargo is oil. It travels in special ships called tankers. During these past hundred years they have increased in size and number.

They are the biggest ships in the' world. On some tankers it takes 20 minutes to walk from the bow to the stern.