Another Round Of Increases

In Shipping Freight Rates

Chickens hatched out by steve dores’ successful demands for more pay are coming home to roost freight rates to pay the increased wages are going up.

By the middle of June, four ship ping lines—Pacific Navigation Co., Tonga’s national line, the French company Sofrana, Fiji Australia Line and the Cook Islands Shipping Co. had announced freight increases on their runs to the Pacific Islands. All gave as the main reason for the hike the increase in dockers’ and seamen’s wages.

More companies are expected to announce increases within the next month.

The decision by Tonga’s Pacific Navigation Co. is bound to rock the Islands’ governments. Fiji, Tonga, Samoa have all dreamed of the day when the Islands could have their own regional shipping line. This was a topic the South Pacific Forum has discussed at length and one which found immediate favour when the Pacific Islands Producers’ Association was first formed. With their own line, the Islands would be able to keep freight rates at a realistic level and would not be influenced by wharfies’ demands and industrial unrest in the metropolitan countries. So they thought.

How wrong they were! To keep in business, Pacific Navigation has found it has to respond to outside influences.

It has raised its freight rates by about nine per cent. Burns Philp, its agents in Sydney, said the rise will just cover the increases in the cost of cargo handling at the wharves.

The rises, per ton of cargo, are: Sydney and Melbourne to Fiji $3; Sydney and Melbourne to Pago Pago $4; Sydney to Apia and Nukualofa $4; Melbourne to Apia and Nukua lofa $5.

The special rate for flour to all Island ports has been increased to $2B a ton, which is a rise of between $3 and $4.

Sofrana’s increase, which had not been announced at the time of writ ing, is expected to be about 10 per cent, on its general cargo to all ports.

Sofrana’s four ships operate be tween New Zealand, New Caledonia New Hebrides, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, New Guinea, and the Solo mons. It’s obvious, therefore, that living costs are going to rise again in all those territories.

And that goes for the Cook Islands

too. The Cook Islands Shipping Co. which owns the Lorena, has slapped on the biggest increase so far 14 per cent. The reason given is the wharfies’ and seamen’s wages lift. So far, however, there has been no announcement from the NZ Maori and Island Affairs Department which runs the Moana Roa, beyond a state ment that it was waiting for a cabinet decision. Whichever way it goes, it will be heartache for Premier Henry because the Moana Roa’s losses are debited against NZ’s handouts to the Cooks.

The Cook Islands Government has approved the increase on Lorena borne. freight.

Fiji Australia has put S 3 a ton on Fiji-bound cargo. Karlander raised its Australia-Fiji rate by the same amount from July 1. NEL said, “We won’t complete an evaluation of the water-borne increases for another five weeks. At the moment, everything stands as it is.”

Meanwhile, Papua New Guinea’s Harbours Board has increased port, wharf and berth charges, and, as it’s hardly likely that the shipping lines servicing PNG have taken these in creases into account, it looks as if there’ll be another lift for PNG-bound freight.

The new PNG Transport Minister, Mr. Bruce Jephcott, explained that the Harbours Board had to be self sufficient and the increases were necessary to meet commitments over the next few years. Previous rates were artificially low compared with those of other countries. The increases would be from about 70c to 80c a ton.

Conpac Switches

To Melbourne

The over-tonnaged port of Brisbane is to lose one of its regular ships, Container Pacific Express Line’s unit load ship Nimos, a familiar caller at Port Moresby. Faced with decreasing cargoes from the Queensland capital and with demand for more shipping space from exporters in Melbourne, CONPAC has switched Nimos from Brisbane to Melbourne for the regular run to Port Moresby.

This is the second switch this year to benefit the Melbourne exporters.

The first was by the new Japanese financed New Guinea Express Lines.

With the appearance on the Austra lian-PNG scene of Refrigerated Ex press Lines with Moresby Express and Lae Express with the Kieta Ex

press promised for August, CONPAC felt the area was getting overcrowded and decided on the change.

Melbourne needed the additional link with Port Moresby because of expanding trade but the change was not made without thought to Brisbane’s requirements. CONPAC made sure there would be no short shipments through an understanding with the Swire Group’s New Guinea Australia Line which had indicated that their Coral Chief would be able to handle all that was offered in Brisbane.

NGAL will be pleased with the departure of a rival from an over crowded port.

Minister Hopeful On

Png Coastal Trade

Launched on June 2 at Rabaul by the PNG Minister for Transport, Mr.

Bruce Jephcott, a new 82 ft all-steel coastal ship built solely by Papuans and New Guineans was named Dangit as a tribute to the late Dangit, for 20 years a skipper with the Coastal Shipping Co. Member’s of Dangit’s family and councillors from his home on Lambom Island in New Ireland were at the ceremony.

Dangit, of 190 tons gross, is owned by the St. George Shipping Co. An optimistic minister told the audience at the launching, “There are already signs of a slow upturn from the depressed state that existed last year in the shipping industry.”

Learning The Hard Way

The Stern Law Of The Sea

There could be an international storm blowing up over a neat salvage job performed in New Guinea waters in March on the PNG Federation of Co-operative Association’s coastal trader Papua which broke down on her way to Port Moresby from Madang and was towed home by Karlander’s 1,900-ton cargo carrier Slembe.

Papua’s skipper, Milton Cottrell, asked Lae Radio to call up the nearest ship for a tow. The Slembe, whose master knew something about salvage agreements, agreed to do the tow provided Cottrell signed the Lloyds form of salvage agreement which was news to Cottrell. He signed when he was told it was standard procedure and, anyway, no other ships were around. No fee was men tioned but Cottrell was asked Papua’s value. He guessed about $60,000.

Papua made it home on the end of Slembe’s cable, and in next to no time the federation got a demand from Lloyds for £stg3 0,000 to be lodged as security in London against the salvors’ claim.

Consternation at the federation!

According to local custom and that’s

the only thing the locals know about salvage claims—the standard fee for towage in PNG waters is a token pay ment, usually the cost of fuel and compensation for lost time. Kar lander’s head office in Oslo was told this and after some sparring by letter the company offered to settle for $16,000.

“The native people are disgusted and annoyed at the lack of principle displayed by your company in trying to extort such a huge sum of money from our village people, who are try ing to rise above a subsistence economy,” wrote Mr. Mahuru Rarua Rarua, the federation’s secretary.

The underwriters, Co-operative Insurance Co. Pty. Ltd. (Australia), have lodged a protest with Lloyds court of appeal. As the federation and other native co-ops are the share holders in ClC’s PNG branch they would lose out if salvage had to be paid.

Karlander (Australia) Pty. Ltd.’s managing director, Mr. H. Costello, said his board was very sympathetic to the problem but it was outside their hands as, under international salvage law, the Slembe’s crew had a stake in the matter.

The Slembe has white officers and a crew of New Guineans. The latter might be “persuaded” to forego their claims, particularly if, as seems likely, PNG’s new nationalist government takes a hand in the game.

Popular Cruise Ship

Leaves South Pacific

Firmly established on the South Pacific cruise scene in the last two years, the Fiji-Australia Line’s popular cargo passenger ship Taiyuan of 3,500 tons gross, will leave the scene in July. She has been sold and must be in Hong Kong at the beginning of August. She will be missed on the run which she has graced since September, 1970, and which took her and 86 passengers from Sydney to Brisbane, Fiji, Noumea and return.

Loading dates for the last voyage were Brisbane June 17, and Sydney lune 22.

Mid-June, Fiji Australia Line was negotiating for a replacement cargo /essel with the object of continuing ;o operate a regular three-weekly icheduled cargo service from Bris >ane and Sydney to Suva and Lautoka.

The 21-day cruise has been very popular among people wanting a juiet holiday cruise—mainly for the )ver-30s —and bookings have always )een high, usually between 80 per :ent. and 90 per cent, capacity.

Nauru’s Enna G, which has just itarted in the same business, might ind that Taiyuan’s departure is lefinitely to her gain.

Fiji Ship Repair Firm

Undercuts Nz Yard

A Fiji ship repair firm, Bish Ltd., of Suva, is carrying out extensive repairs to a Japanese fishing boat at a third of the cost quoted by a New Zealand shipyard Japanese fish catcher, the Mam 33. of 260 tons, one of the latest types of backline trawlers, ran aground on the New Zealand coast several months ago. After refloating, she was taken to the NZ shipyard for repairs which the shipyard estimated would cost about $ 110,000. The yard started the job but was unable to continue after replating about a third of the starboard side. Fuji Mam 33 was brought to Suva Bish Ltd. is now engaged on replating most of the bottom of the fish ment-and the bill will be aU The Fuji Mam 33 is fully automated and is designed to stay at sea for as long as six months. rrndv rrnmrr rft n n>

Ferry Service For W. Samoa

A ferry service linking Western Samoa’s islands of Upolu and Savaii will be created at a cost of $W5620,000 with the New Zealand

Government contributing $440,000, leaving the Samoans only $lBO,OOO to *? nd ‘. ... , Terminal buildings will be con structed and negotiations are being carned ° ut »n Denmark for the pur chase of a feri T craft whlc h has Fuji a, . r ,‘; ady b « n J oca ' ed . The ferry boat wl " ' be ca P able ? f car ,T, n * ° r . buses and about 300 passengers, • lsb ° ped have , th f service operat ,ng befo A re . >he end of this year, The Asian Development Bank was ? sk , ed for a loan *° fi^" ce ' he P ro ‘ J ect . on Ihe grounds that the ferry semce * aS par ‘ of a scheme already ? ppro . ved and financed by the bank f° r , "proving communications in Western Samoa. This was turned down ’ but New Zealand came IO th <=

rescue

* ™f. Ba “" Rabi S L on cargo ship, the New Zealand ’ f ° r inter -‘ sland tradln 8- The Royal Navy survey ship HMS Hydra has completed a hydro graphic survey of Solomons coastal waters between Guadalcanal and the Bougainville Strait. Her survey will update the charts of dangerous, reef strewn waters off east Bougainville.