Pacifica interested in ferry service

Press, 27 November 1986, Page 1

Pacifica interested in ferry service

By

JEFF HAMPTON

A private shipping firm is interested in setting up a Lyttelton to Auckland freight ferry service to replace the Coastal Trader, which will soon be withdrawn.

“We are looking favourably towards such a service,” said the chairman of Pacifica Shipping, Mr Cliff Skeggs. "Whether it proceeds depends on the co-opera-tion of the respective unions regarding requirements for manning scales.” Talks would be held with representatives of maritime unions within the “next day or so,” he said.

It was hoped that a service might be under way by February or March next year. The company had three possible vessels in mind for the trade. It would be a roll-on service similar to that offered by the Pacifica Lyttelton-Well-ington freight ferry Spirit of Competition. Mr Skeggs looked at several vessels during a recent overseas trip. The Coastal Trader, which is owned by the New Zealand Line, is held at Lyttelton by a union dispute on her last southern voyage before she is withdrawn. She . plies a Lyttelton - Wellington - Dunedin run. The Seamen’s Union has refused to sail the ship since Tuesday in protest against the decision to end her service.

Mr Terry Stuart, the South Island secretary of the union, said it was important that a coastal shipping service con-

tinued from Lyttelton. It gave manufacturers a choice of how to freight their goods, and also provided jobs and generated revenue for the port and the Lyttelton Harbour Board.

The loss of the Coastal Trader would cost the Lyttelton Harbour Board $500,000 a year in lost revenue, said its general manager, Mr lan Brokenshire.

He said he was keen that an alternative service be set up. The board was “very interested” in Pacifica’s plan and would have talks with the company soon.

“Yes, they could do it," he said.

“I can only speak with admiration for the way in which Pacifica has run its Lyttelton-Wellington service,” Mr Brokenshire said.

Mr Skeggs said that for the Lyttelton-Auckland service to be successful it would have to be run in the same way as the present Lyttelton-Wellington one. The two services would draw cargo from the firm’s present customer base. “Positivfe assistance” would be needed from harbour boards and port employers, and “close cooperation” with uniops, he said.

The unions had always given “tremendous cooperation” in the past, said Mr Skeggs. According to the New Zealand Line, the Coastal Trader will be withdrawn because of competition from the Railways Corporation for freight, wage increases, and a rise in fuel costs.