DIRECT SHIPPING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22319, 17 January 1936, Page 11

DIRECT SHIPPING

FIRST VESSEL TO-DAY FURTHER EXTENSION IN MAY The arrival of the steamer Manjn Mam this afternoon will mark the inauguration of a direct shipping service between Japan and New Zealand. The vessel is the first of three steamers belonging to the Yamashita Kisen Kaisha, which will operate a monthly service between the two countries. The Manju Maru left Japan on December 27, and has 230 tons of general cargo for discharge at Auckland, 260 tons for Wellington, 90 tons for Lyttelton an:l 30 tons for Dunedin. She will later load for Japan. Other vessels of the line, the Chifuku Maru, due at Auckland about the middle of next month, and the Keifuku Marti, due in the middle of March, will run on similar schedules, all travelling direct on both outward and return trips. The Manju Maru, 6515 ton's gross, is the largest of the three steamers. The local agents for the vessel, Russell and Somers, Limited, received advice by radio yesterday that the vessel has two passengers, believed to be principals o : the line. A second >:lirect service to Japan will commence next May, when three larcro Osaka Shosen Kaisha motor-ships, the Sydney Maru, Brisbane Maru and Melbourne Maru. which have been running to the Dominion, via Australia, for several rears, will be transferred solely to the New Zealand trade. Until the present month these vessels have called only at Auckland and Wellington.. but the service was recently extended to the South Island.