Container line launched

Press, 17 May 1984, Page 9

Container line launched

More than 70 Canterbury importers and exporters attended a function in Christchurch last evening to mark the start of the newly formed Australia-New Zealand Container Line. The line was formed by the New Zealand Shipping Corporation earlier this year in a bid to switch its trading from the east coast of the United States to Californian ports. The function was similar to others held in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin to mark the start of the new service and provide information for New Zealand shipping clients. The service will provide a fortnightly service between New Zealand, Australia, and the west coast of the United States.

The corporation is withdrawing from its joint service with the Bafik and

Savill Line in the United States Gulf and Caribbean trade. However, the two Bank and Savill ships, Dunedin and Willowbank, have been chartered to work alongside the corporation's own vessel, the New Zealand Caribbean, on the west coast service.

The first southbound run from the United States ports of Long Beach (Los Angeles) and Oakland (San Francisco), has already been done by the Willowbank. The vessel left Auckland on her northbound voyage yesterday.

The service will enable New Zealand importers and exporters to trade with United States markets through one shipping line. By going to the west coast instead of the east, the corporation can make 26 round trips a year rather than 14 by the old service.

The corporation's new North American agents for the container line, Sea-Land Agencies International, the inventors of containerisation. will take New Zealand and Australian produce to all points in the United States by a combination of ship, rail, and trucking connections.

The president of Sea-Land Agencies, Mr Eugene Campbell. said yesterday that his company was excited about the prospect of representing the corporation. Mr Campbell said the corporation was the first shipping company for which Sea-Land had ' acted as agents. It was a “vote of confidence” in the new venture.

"The management of both companies are compatible and the chemistry is right,” he said. The new service will

carry containerised frozen, cooled, dry, and liquid (tank) cargo.

The corporation announced in March that the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation had allowed the new service to carry Australian meat to the United States.

Although the New Zealand Meat Board had given full rights to uplift all meat ' for the American east coast, it had restricted meat export to the west coast to one vessel — the New Zealand Caribbean, a corporation spokesman said yesterday. The new service has also gained the substantial kiwifruit trade to North America.

Tonnages on that trade have been declining since the corporation started the seryjce about four years ag<?