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SLOW TURN-ROUND /
Delays to Shipping
Costly to Australia
By Our Shipping Reporter
Slow turn-round of shipping in Australian ports is said to
be among the worst in the world, and the situation has been
deteriorating in recent months.
; :/7\n .ins return
\i . jfirom , overseas the
Prime Minister
(Mr. Menzies) gave a
warning that the slow
shipping turn-round in
Australian ports was
having a disastrous ef
fect on our economy.
He said that it was forcing
prices up and up, was losing us
much valuable trade, and slow
ing down the development of
Australia.
Despite- strenuous efforts by
port authorities throughout
Australia to find a remedy, the
situation goes from bad to
worse.
Statistics prove that since
(lie war there has been a well
defined fall in the rate of
handling cargoes, and ships
are spending three times as
long In port as they did pre
war.
According to fact-finding
committees the main causes of
slow turn-round,. are: —
Insufficient waterside labor
to meet ship owners' requisi
tions.
Inefficiency by all users of
ports.
Inadequate road and rail
transport facilities.
The fall in the output per
man-hour by waterside
workers.
Lack, of large wharf -storage
sneas . ana warehouses to
store incoming and outgoing
cargoes.. .
Failure of the shipping in
dustry generally to overcome
the time-lag caused by the
introduction of the 40-hour
week. .
Failure of Australia's ports
to develop at the same pace
as Australia's internal de
velopment.
Until these factor .are
tackled efficiently by all sec-
tions or the shipping Industry
the turn-round of shipping
cannot Improve.
Melbourne Worst
In the port of Melbourne,
which is said to be about the
worst port in the Common
wealth for slow ship turn-
round, the Melbourne Harbor
Trust has done Its level best
to facilitate turn-round.
However, every section of
the industry is ' pulling at
cross purposes and there is
far too much sefishness on
the part of several sections.
Ship owners are inclined to
blame watersiders far too often
when a little bit more effort
on their part might help
things along more.
The Customs department
could also help. Watersiders
do their side of the job by un
loading cargo into a wharf
shed, but when consignees call
to collect it they are sometimes
told that the Customs are 10
days behind in their Customs
checks of imported, cargo.
The cargo cannot be moved
until the Customs releases it
and in that time the wharf
is unusable by another ship,
as no more cargo can he un
loaded.
Fault can also be found with
some importers, who use wharf
sheds as distributing centres
for their goods. To facilitate
turn-round, cargo should be
removed from sheds as soon as
possible after unloading, but
importers try to keep their car
go stored on the wharves as
long as possible.
To keep cargo moving
through' these sheds, Mel
bourne Harbor Trust has
formed the port traffic
management system. This
nas been established for
systematising berth allocations
in the port, for the fully effi
cient use of berths and the
rapia clearance of ships and
cargoes.
Records show the average
cargo handled to and from
each berth dally In Victoria
Dock In the last prewar year,
1938, was 861 tons, but today
it has fallen to 286 tons a day.
Port Paradox
The amazing fact.' about
these statistics Is that in the
postwar years, when ' figures
have fallen' rapidly, fork-lift
trucks, mobile cranes and tow
motors in large numbers have
been in use, whereas in pre
war years they were non exist
ent.
At berths where the same
type of cargo is handled as
liivnuii atdbiatlLa allUW LlltvV
the average general cargo,
both inter- State and over
seas, handled to and from
ships daily, fell from 1029
tons a day in. 1938 to 314 tons
a day in 1949.
Experience has shown port
authorities chat new wharves
and new equipment apparently
do not' provide the complete
answer to slow turn-round.
Naturally, the slower rate of
handling cargo keeps ships
longer at berths. In 1938 In
ter-State vessels at North
Wharf loaded and discharged
on the average 1357 tons dally
and occupied berths for .91
days. In 1949 they handled 378
tons dally and spent 5.07 days
at berths. /
Although there are many
complex problems Involved In
the slow turn-round ' of ship
ping, the basic need1; before
anything can he done to hasten
turn-round Is more wharf
labor.
Labor Short
In the first six months of
1950 there were deficiencies of
labor on 135 days and surpluses
on only eight.
However, proof . that ships
can be turned round faster
was available last year, when
three overseas vessels received
arnple labor and worked round
the clock.
The Australia Star, which ar
rived in September, discharged
S400 tons of . general cargo at
the rate of: 1000 tons' daily,
similarly the Cragmoor was
dischargea at 1000 tons' dally
rate, while the Penrith Castle,
with 10.165 tons 'of cargo, dis
charged at an average rate of
850 tons daily.
. But tlie important factor
about the discharge of these
ships was that many more
men . wore needed to accom
plish the task than In pre
war days, because of tlie fall
In output per man-hour. This
Is one reason why costs are
continually rising.
Also complicating the pre
sent position is the growth of
trade from overseas. From Bri
tain outwara cargo require
ments are exoected to be 50
per cent, higher this. year than
last. This increased trade is
coming despite overseas reluc
tance to send ships here while
turn-round is so unsatisfac.
tory. and despite the world
shortage of shipping.
It Is certain Australia's
national prosperity would
gain much more if ships
could be turner! round fnster
liy speeding up work on the
wharves.
Prominent shipping men be
lieve that the only solution is
for all parties in the industry
to get together, sink their per
sonal feelings, work together
for the common, good and do
their best to speed up turn-
round.
They claim that if removal
of goods from .wharves within
three days of discharge from
ships could be affected then
the turn-round would . im-
pvrve immediately.
. .The problem cannot be solved
quickly, but needs a long-range
plan, and until it is forthcom
ing the shipping turn-round
in Australian ports will con
tinue to deteriorate.
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