N.Z. ships said to sail near war

Press, 23 July 1987, Page 41

N.Z. ships said to sail near war

PA Wellington An assurance by the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, that ships taking New Zealand produce to the Middle East do not venture near the war zone is incorrect, says a Wellington shipping agent. The general manager of Blueport ACT, Mr Bob Whyte, said Blue Star Line and P and O ran a joint service into the Gulf every three weeks. Mr Lange was obviously ill-informed, Mr Whyte said.

Blueport was Blue Star’s New Zealand agent, he said.

“We go all the way up to Kuwait. We have been through the Iranian revolution and now the IranIraq war.” The service took 50,000 tonnes of New Zealand produce each year to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Mr Lange gave an assurance on July 20 that

the programme for supplying New Zealand markets in the Middle East did not take ships “into the area of critical conflict.” His statement was made after reports of increasing conflict, with Iran deploying anti-ship missiles overlooking the Strait of Hormuz.