HARBOUR CHARGES

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 196, 16 May 1930, Page 13

HARBOUR CHARGES

WELLINGTON’S POSITION ANSWER TO CRITICISM Charges against the Wellington Harbour Board as to the disparity in its rates on imports compared with exports were made at a meeting of the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce this week by Mr. Stewart, who gave figures to support his statement. These are said to be entirely misleading. In Wellington the board, it has been explained, takes charge of cargo as from the ship’s side, trucks it into the shed, stacks it there, allows one week’s storage and then loads it on to the consignee’s wagon, whereas in Auckland the board does none of this work, but allows the ship and the consignees to do it, merely charging tonnage rate for wharfage. Methods differ in the various ports. On the subject of the Wellington board’s charges the chairman (Mr. J. W. McEwan) has made the following statement :— "The estimated amount of the value of the reduction in charges to operate from April 1 next is £15,880 a year. Out of this a reduction of 3d. a ton in the inward wharfage rate equals £7849, and a further £6OO is estimated to be the cost of the reduction to be made in the additional wharfage charged on account of extra payments awarded to the watersiders for handling slag, cement, etc. These total £8449. It will be seen, therefore, that the direct reduction to importers (£8449) is more than half of the total reduction to be made (£15,880). The rates for exporting and transhipping goods for export through Wellington are low, but the reductions now to be made will bring them down to an' even lower level, and on this occasion the board, in making its reductions, has favoured importers by giving them a large share of the value of the total reductions made. Making Comparisons. “In making comparisons of charges at the various ports, on inward cargo particularly, no tariff comparison will give the true position. For instance, at Wellington, if no. labour is supplied, and goods are delivered direct into railway trucks, the inward wharfage rate is 2/3 a ton, and artificial manures 1/3 a ton- .. “A merchant in Palmerston North importing goods on a through bill of lading by rail can take advantage of the board’s transhipment rate of 4/-'a ton (which includes inward and outward ■wharfage, labour receiving and trucking to vessel’s side, and seven nights’ free storage), but with an additional cartage charge of 1/ner ton, if incurred. This gives importers at stations over 25 miles from Wellington the opportunity of importing goods from overseas for rail at the lowest nossible rate. Wellington’s Way.

“The inward wharfage rate at Wellington is 3/9 a ton, but this charge is a consolidated one, including labour receiving from ship’s slings, trucking to shed, stacking, and delivering to importer’s vehicle, with one night’s free storage. The other main ports of New Zealand have not the same system and therefore an exact comparison cannot be made. One method that should show the true position is to total the charges on a line of goods from the ship's slings to the merchant's store. By this method Wellington compares favourably with any other port in the Dominion, because in most other ports the wharfage rate is only a toll charge and includes no service beyond providing a lock-up shed, the merchant himself paying in his cartage rate a certain amount for the labour (both clerical and manual) involved in obtaining delivery of his goods from the ship and handling them on to his cart in the wharf shed. Then agqiu, in some other ports there is, in addition to the harbour board wharfage, a railway sorting charge, so the difficulty of making a true comparison of charges is not easy unless all the local conditions are taken into consideration.

“It may be possible to pick out a few lines which, for particular reasons, may enjoy concessional rates at other ports, but with the reductions that have already been made by this board during the last few years, amounting in value to importers, exporters, and shipping,, to over £30,000, and the additions that are now authorised of £15,000, the Wellington board can, without fear, claim to have a tariff for the services rendered that will bear favourable comparison with any other port in New Zealand.”