Railing of coal being promoted

Press, 25 May 1984, Page 3

Railing of coal being promoted

Westport reporter

A high-powered Railways Corporation team will visit Westport on Wednesday to promote the railing of coal to Lyttelton for export. The corporation is keen to retain the present export trade, which has been expanding since the Government agreed to limit exports four years ago. At present all West Coast coal for export is railed to Lyttelton for shipment to Japan and Korea. However, a deep-sea port on the West Coast is now a serious prospect because a huge coal, cement and wood-chip volumes identified in the McDermott report (in spite of some pessi-

mism about markets). These prospects have prompted the Railways Corporation and the Lyttelton Harbour Board to join forces in a fight to retain the present and future trade. Attending the Westport meeting will be Dr Francis Small, chief traffic manager; Mr Tim Sandrey, senior sales manager; Mr Bob Taylor, regional traffic manager, the Greymouth area traffic manager, Mr Jack Barltrop; and two representatives of the Lyttelton Harbour Board. The corporation has also arranged to display its new C wagon, which is specially designed for coal and equipped with bottom-dis-charge doors.