Streamlining

At present one phase of the Wellington Harbour Board's streamlining plan is being put into operation. The loading berth Glasgow Wharf is about to undergo a £500,000 reconstruction job. However the actual methods of loading carcasses and dairy products will undergo little change. In the past decade the Bluff Harbour Board has developed an automated all-weather loading berth, whereas Wellington has simply the forty-year-old, 2½-ton capacity, hydraulic cranes on Glasgow Wharf with new 3-ton capacity, electric cranes. There is one ray of hope—a private transport firm is experimenting with a new type of container for frozen products which will eradicate the necessity to shunt railway waggons to the wharf, unload them and load slings. If this scheme is successful the containers will simply be carried to ship-side by truck, lifted by the cranes, and unloaded down the hatches.

The general apathy in Wellington is not quite as apparent in some of the other ports. The increasing interest shown by the Timaru and Lyttelton Harbour Boards in the all-weather loading facilities at Bluff is a healthy sign. Experimentation with package loading was begun at Bluff as early as 1953. In 1963 five loaders were installed at a cost of more than £600.000. When in operation the railway wagons are shunted into the sheds, the packages are loaded on to a conveyor belt which takes them to the ship's hold. The loaders are designed to operate in winds of at least 45 mph and when stowed are stable up to 105 mph.

It is estimated that when initial difficulties are overcome (such as shunting delays through wet weather), vessels will be able to turn round in half the present time, twice the tonnage will be handled for the same existing stevedoring costs, and the cost of loading should fall to approximately half the previous figure. The resultant saving should more than cover the charge to the Shipping Companies for use of the loaders, while the saving in loading days will greatly enhance the profit-earning capacity of the vessel.

The lack of modern facilities in Wellington is closely related to the problem of management. An example of the mismanagement of the Wellington streamlining scheme is the inadequacy of the new overseas passenger terminal. For some unknown reason the Harbour Board decided that the width of the terminal would be slightly less than some of the cargo sheds that they had been using before. This is difficult to understand as one of the more practical reasons for constructing the terminal was because many of the sheds could not adequately accommodate the large amount of passengers and baggage from the larger ships, therefore necessitating use of the already overcrowded discharging berths.