Shipping changes

Press, 15 February 1982, Page 44

Shipping changes

Containerisation has drastically changed shipping patterns around the world, but, although saving handling costs and improving efficiency. it is not the last word shipping experts once believed it would be.

As with all industries, technological steps forward, have characteristically produced one major gripe, the loss of personal contact. In shipping the personal contact has been sacrificed and the amount of paper work increased. Of New Zealand's meat shipments, 70 per cent is sent in containers and 30 per cent by conventional shipping methods. Containerisation has also changed the productivity of ports. The four container ports now handle most of the shipping while ports like Timaru and Lyttelton have had a drop in the export meat trade.

As a result there is a great deal more meat transported by land to the container ports. Indeed, the Railways has geared itself entirely to moving meat on a container basis.

But the change in the meat scene on the world market may reverse the trend back to a larger use of conventional shipping. The shipping manager for the Canterbury Frozen Meat Co., Ltd, Mr G. Kennedy, is a strong supporter of this view.

“In the future. I envisage a possible decrease in the use of containerisation." Mr Kennedy says. The voluntary restraint agreement between New Zealand and the United Kingdom and the E.E.C. has meant a swing away from these markets and the export of meat, particularly lamb, to countries such as Iran and Iraq.

Both these markets are not equipped to serve container vessels. Mr Kennedy says that last year 110.000 tonnes of lamb was exported by C.F.M. to Middle East countries and about '170,000 tonnes to the United Kingdom. These figures are evidence of the growing market in the. Middle East countries for New Zealand lamb. Until the last few yeai-s almost 90 per cent ol our lamb was sent to the United Kingdom.

Another area that is under consideration is the British and New Zealand Shipping Conference lines which, together with the New Zealand Meat Board, negotiate rates with the shipping companies. The agreement with the United Kingdom Conference Line only allows New Zealand to ship to this area. The attempt by Waitaki New Zealand Refrigerating, Ltd, to export meat by means of the A.B.C. Conference Line last year,' heightened awareness of these agreements. The result is that a firm of consultants has been employed by the Meat Board to look at the viability of the Conference Lines. The changing market

scene has also meant a greater shelf-stock of meat, Mr w Kennedy says. This means that there is meat in the stores at all times, whereas about 15 years ago stores were empty during the winter. “The shipments have been spread out to meet the customers’; demands,” Mr Kennedy says. Another opinion Mr Kennedy holds is that the size of container ships will be reduced. At present the huge capa-

city of the container vessels can carry enough meat to influence the market unless stringent control is maintained over the shipping schedule. "One problem is less meat being shipped from New Zealand to the United Kingdom," Mr Kennedy says. "The container ships in use are too big to be re-routed. They are just not flexible enough,” he says. Containerisation decreases handling time and consequently labour costs, it means lighter packaging can

be used and crew numbers on vessels are reduced. The German shipping lines introduced containerisation to the world and for cartoned meat the system has worked extremely well, Mr Kennedy says. "Containerisation Qf cartoned meat is eminently suited to New Zealand exports to North America,” he says. But problems have existed with containerisation since its introduction in 1971. Exporters are substantially more involved with claims. Under conventional methods lambs, all from different farmers, were stacked in the works. The weight was taken on an average basis and these details sent to the customer. By the time the consignment reached the customer the weight could alter for varying reasons, from loss of actual weight during storage to pilfering. If the figures do not correspond the customer now sends a claim to the shipper rather than the shipping line, as was the case under the old method. The reason for this is that containerisation has made it easier to identify where the meat has originated. Security is a major problem, Mr Kennedy says. The containers are recorded on computer and the system should be secure, but he says people seem to have found’a way around this security.

With containerisation there are only two checks, one as the containers are tallied in and another when they are tallied out.

Sometimes entire containers go astray. There has been one report of a family living in a converted container in Mexico.