Line Objects To ‘U.S. Interference’

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30960, 17 January 1966, Page 1

Line Objects To ‘U.S. Interference’

(Net© Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 16. The New Zealand Shipping Company, in February, will withdraw for an indefinite period from a consortium of shipping lines trading on the Australia-East Coast of the United States and Canada run. The New Zealand Shipping Company in a statement today said its withdrawal from the M.A.N.Z. Line consortium had been necessitated because events in recent years had made trade on the route “unreasonably burdensome.”

“The present attitudes of the United States Government and its administrative authorities make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for shipowners to operate efficient and rationalised services, or support such services with worth-while contracts, without other lines coming in at will to over-tonnage the berth,” said the company.

In a separate statement, the other two members of the consortium, the Ellerman and Bucknail Steamship Company, Ltd., and the Port Line announced they would continue to operate on the AustraliaEast Coast of the United States and Canada route but under their own names.

The New Zealand Shipping Company said “Justifiable freight increases had been resisted tooth and nail in both Australia and North America, with statutory powers being

used in Australia, as well as the threat of the introduction of another line into the trade, to keep the rates depressed.”

Until the authorities ensured that lines could protect themselves against other operators, or failing this allowed the lines to base their freight rates on what the traffic would bear, there would be no guarantee that adequate shipping services would always be available, said the New Zealand Shipping Company. “If government and statu-

tory authorities are to demand as they have been doing, that shipping companies justify their freight charges, this implies that these authorities will assist the shipping companies to serve trade routes with efficient and rationalised services,” said the New Zealand Shipping Company. “If this is so, the authorities should ensure that lines can reasonably protect themselves against other operators who would be attracted by the improved profitability of such trade.

“The New Zealand Shipping Company will continue to operate within the consortium to maintain M.A.N.Z. line services from Canada to Australia and New Zealand and also to maintain a north-bound service from New Zealand to the East Coast of the United States and Canada.”