BIG JOB

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 September 1940, Page 7

BIG JOB

AUSTRALIAN SHIPPING IN WAR TIME

AN EFFICIENT ORGANISATION.

KEEPING BRITAIN SUPPLIED

With New Zealand. Australia is playing her part well and seriously in keeping beleagured Britain supplied with necessary foodstuffs. The organisation of Australian export shipping has been a big job, but it has been achieved thoroughly and efficiently. In the following talk, issued by the Australian Trade Commissioner in New Zealand, Mr Arthur Moorhead, of Sydney, tells how it has been, and is being. done. "I can state with absolute truth that Australian produce of every description is being moved to Britain in record quantities with a speed and efficiency unheard of in peace time, and that not a single request for Australian products has come from the British Ministry of Supply for food that has not been promptly delivered and in full. I can speak with such conviction because of the privilege I have had of seeing something of the methods used by the organisation that controls our overseas shipping. “To understand the tremendous job that has been done by this organisation in the short time at its disposal it is necessary to know something of the peace time problems of the Australian trade. Taking Sydney as its shipping centre Australia is almost the most distant portion of the British Empire; it is 11,538 miles from London to Sydney, whether the vessel voyages by the Cape of Good Hope or by the Suez Canal and Colombo.

“This means that the movements of steamers have to be planned many months in advance, often before any txact knowledge of the quantities of the Australian harvest is available. Thif ’s of course true of both war and peace, but before the war European market conditions vitally affected’ Australian trade —a fractional drop in prices in London during the outward voyage of a steamer might have, and indeed often did, throw thousands of cubic feet of insulated space empty, which then had to be filled as best, it might with general cargo at remunerative rates, or not filled at all. “Added to these two difficulties, distance and uncertainty of cargo, we have the geographical nature of our continent to consider. Under normal trading conditions of peace time a steamer, having discharged its cargo at not less than three ports, and sometimes at four and five in the south-east of the continent, had to revisit some of these ports, or possibly others, to collect the cargo for the homeward voyage. To this wasted time must be added the fact that some of the main industries for which it was necessary to cater were scattered along the Queensland coast from Brisbane to Cairns.

“This problem of wasted time on the Australian coast was one of the major problems or pre-war shipping, which may be stated as the scouring of more regular shipments throughout the year and fuller loads at fewer ports of call. “The war has done just what was needed to put Australian shipping on a rational basis, and this and other industries driven by war needs to efficiency will be potent factors in our ultimate victory. “All British shipping was taken over by the Government on February 1 last, and organised to secure complete efficiency of supply and transport immediately. In Australia Sir Thomas Gordon was appointed representative of the British Ministry Shipping. He and representatives of the overseas shipping companies formed the Overseas Central Committee to control shipping at this end. “The position today is that the Ministry of Supply in Britain intimtaes its needs and sends the ships. Sir Thomas Gordon and the Overseas Central Committee so organise the whole of the Australian end that these supplies are ready to be loaded as soon as a ship berths, and further the steamers are so directed in Australian waters that a full load is waiting at the first port of call, and no time is wasted. "I did not realise how much organisation this required until I saw the system in operation. The first thing you see in the control room is a large map which shows the position of every ship in Australian waters going and coming. I can tell you that at the present moment Australian sea lanes are not empty, and never have been since the war started. In fact, all export surpluses, with the exception of wine, jam, canned fruit, barley and wheat have been moved in record time, in record quantities, with a record of effiency, which has never been approached in the history of Australia. “Sir Thomas Gordon gives all the credit for this stupendous feat to the Overseas Central Committee, his own staff, the captains, officers, engineers and crews of ships, to the large body of men engaged in the loading and unloading of ships, to carters and others / engaged in the transport; in fact to the j wonderful spirit of co-operation that now exists among all Australians in the

effort to supply Britain with essential goods. ’’The next thing you notice in the control room is a chart showing just what goods are available for shipment, where they are, and in what quantity. There at a glance you can see the whole of Australia's export requirements. Cargoes can be arranged according to the shipping space available, and all waste of time in port and of shipping space is eliminated The ideal of a full load waiting at the berth has been accomplished. “Next we come to a chart which shows the history of each ship in its travels in Australian waters, its time in port, its cargo, its time in Australian waters, where it is going and why. “This is the check on the efficiency of the system and in looking at it I felt sorry for my friends among the crews of tramps in the Australian trade who

used.to look.forward to thirteen weeks basking in the sun round the coast loading and unloading; now they are gone before they’ve had time to get their noses sunburned. “And last of all we come to a ?nap showing what ships will be here many months from now, and where they’ll go and what for. Again I can say with certainty that there will be an even flow of Australian produce to England as long as it is needed. “The quaritities and varieties of these exports are truly astonishing. I was shown one order which contained over fifty different items in varying quantities, and this was only one of hundreds that have been coming through in a steady stream since the beginning of the war, and which have been fulfilled and delivered right away. It is only when one sees such irrefutable evidence of the smoothness of supply that one realises how hopeless must be the prospect for the German blockade.”