HANDLING OF CARGO.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 145, 19 May 1930, Page 8

HANDLING OF CARGO.

RATES AT WELLINGTON. Replying to recent criticism of the charges made for handling cargo at the port of Wellington, the chairman of the Harbour Board, Mi- 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 on 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 lor handling 6lag, 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, blit the reductions now to be made will bring thorn 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. “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 date is 2e 3d a ton, and artificial manures Is 3d 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 rato of 4s 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 Is per 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 possible rnte. “The inward wharfage rate at Wellington is 3s 9d 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 ony 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 again, 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.”