CONGESTION OF CARGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17100, 4 March 1919, Page 8

CONGESTION OF CARGO

WELLINGTON DIFFICULTIES,

COMPLAINTS BY IMPORTERS.

METHODS OF WATERSIDERS. [BY telegraph.—own- correspondent.] WELLINGTON, Monday. The congestion of inward and transhipment cargo on' the Wellington wharves at tlio present time is causing a great deal of inconvenience and some actual loss to tho commercial community. There is delay in tho delivery of goods, and there is the cost of extra handling. Some firms complain that they have been threatened with i charges for wharf storage on goods that they are keenly anxious to get into their own stoics. Customers are Kept waiting, and further orders aro delayed. A reporter, who made some inquiries with the object of ascertaining what prosfleet of relief could be offered importers, fathered that there is a conflict of interests to bo faced. Tho officers of tho Harbour Board consider thai, with tho means at their disposal, they are doing all that can be done to secure tho prompt handling of cargo. They admit that there aro delays, but they state that those delays aro inseparable from the conditions that have arisen. It there had been no war tho Harbour Board would have had by this time raoro storage accommodation, more wharf spaco, and better appliances for the handling of cargo. If there had been no war, moreover, the supply of coastal shipping would hove boon larger, and the strain 01* tho Port of Wellington would not have been increased by a concentration of transhipment work, due to the desire of tho shipping companies to secure quick discharge of overseas boats.

Some of the importers are not convinced that the handling of cargo by the board is the best that could be done, even with the accommodation and appliances available. The attention of tho reporter was drawn to tho fact that recently two large American sailers, each carrying about 5000 tons of cargo from New York, were berthed one on c?.*h side of the King's Wharf. They were discharged into tho store on the wharf at tho same lime, and the delivery of this cargo has > been a matter of great difficulty. Tho position would havo been improved from the point of view of the importers if ono ship hacj waited in tho stream until tho other ship had completed discharging, but this arrangement would have involved delay, and the shipping companies urge that owing to tho grave shortage of shipping delay in the discharge of vessels should be avoided at any reasonable cost. If Wellington kept ships waiting" for discharge nnder the present conditions, the result would bo the diversion of a certain amount of shipping to other ports. The shipping companies claim lo have suffered lots already through delay in the departure of ships' that have been required to take t:anshmmont cargo from this port. Quicker handling of tho cargo on the wharves and in the stores would produce an improvement in the situation. This seems to be admitted by all the parties, but an improvement in this respect dobs not appear to be within roach. " The waterside workers sot their own gait, and anybody who visits the wharves can see that it is not a rapid gait," said one importer. "I am not entering into any discussion as to tho rights or wrongs of the matter, but just look for Yourself, and see the leisurely way in which the men go about their work, the slow handling of plant, and the apparent duplication of effort. You will not find a sigh of ha3te anywhere. At least that is my impression."