SHIPPING DIFFICULTY

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 110, 12 May 1919, Page 10

SHIPPING DIFFICULTY

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CRITICISMS. The frequent interruptions in steamer communication with Australia are referred to in the annual report of the Wellington Chamber'of Commerce as follows : —The position of intercolonial shipping during the year has, at times, been critical, and particularly from September to January. Owing to. quarantine restrictions, labour troubles, and. general shprtage of ships, there was a large.accumulation of cargo at Sydney and Melbourne awaiting shipment to New Zealand portal Some overseas shipping companies have refused to give through bills of lading for cargo shipped to New Zealand from Eastern ports, and from the United Kingdom, where transhipment has had to be effected at Australian port. It in believed that this attitude has been adopted owing to the congestion of cargo in Australian ports, and the uncertainty of the amount'of storage and transhipping charges likely to be incurred. This attitude of the shipping companies has been a serious, one for the New Zealand importer, as lie has had to make arrangements in Sydney for the forwarding of his "cargo by intercolonial steamier, has had to pay storage and transhipping charges, and, in many cases, has often been faced with the: disability that the intercolonial steamship company has insisted upon issuing a bill of lading, stating that the cargo is insufficiently packed, notwithstanding that the first carrying steamship company issued an unqualified bill of lading. This practice on the part of intercolonial steamship companies has been a serious matter for New Zealand importers when cargo has arrived in a damaged' or pillaged condition, and .the opinion is almost universal in commercial circles that unfair advantage has been taken. ' .

The report also refers to the increased number of sailing vessels arriving in the Dominion from the, West Coast of the United' States of America, bringing cargoes of case oil and quantities of general cargo. "Some of these vessels have made extremely smart trips and have shown.that the day of the sailing vessel is by no means over. The present position regarding this class of snipping is the difficulty in obtaining back loading to the United States of America, particularly in view of the falling off in-the demand for hemp. During the past three months some vessels have left New Zealand ports with part cargo only at low rates of. freight, and, in other casea, in ballast, return cargoes beine unobtainable."