The container revolution
In the 1960s and 1970s loading methods on liner shipping switched to roll-on, roll-off (RORO), mainly in the trans-Tasman and coastal trade, and containers. These brought massive changes. In the old days ships lay alongside for weeks while wharfies laboriously made up sling loads of cargo, 2–5 tonnes at a time. Containers enabled shippers to fill standard-sized steel boxes any time, anywhere, often using cheap off-wharf labour. The pre-assembling of cargo brought costs down – ships only make money when under way – and ship turnaround times speeded up. In 1971 the container ship Columbus New Zealand took eight days and eight hours to move 9,775 tons of cargo; a conventional ship would have taken 35 days.
Not everything went into containers. Less valuable cargo switched to bulk carriers – log ships, ore carriers, bulk cement carriers and oil tankers. In the mid- to late 1970s entire fleets of conventional ships disappeared. The Union Steam Ship Company absorbed most of the coastal carriers.
The drive for greater economy
Now that ships no longer faced weeks alongside the wharf, it became feasible to build them bigger, offering further economies of scale. In the Europe trade in the 1970s, therefore, 45,000-ton container vessels replaced 10,000-ton ships. The next generation would be even bigger. The Mairangi Bay (1978) could carry 2,400 TEU – twenty-foot container equivalent units. Her 21st-century replacement, the P&O Nedlloyd Mairangi, carries 4,100. But as ships got bigger, crews got smaller. The Union Rotoiti, built in 1977 for operation on the Tasman by 42 people, was running on the same route in 2004 as the Rotoiti with just 24 crew.
In the 1980s and 1990s increased mechanisation, and labour and management reforms further reduced the turnaround time. In Tauranga in the 1980s it took 44 workers 12 or 13 days to load 27,000 cubic metres of logs. By 1996 it took only four workers 30 hours, working around the clock. In the 2000s container ships often have fixed-day sailings and guaranteed berths, and even the largest may arrive and depart on the same day.
Globalisation
The ‘red duster’, the flag of the British merchant marine, no longer dominates New Zealand’s waterfronts. Shipping registered in the British Commonwealth (mainly United Kingdom) accounted for 55% of all arrivals in 1965. By the 2000s they were rare visitors, and even British-owned ships were likely to be registered with ‘flag of convenience’ nations such as Panama or Liberia, whose share of shipping registry soared from 6.2% in 1953 to 47.8% in 1998.
Globalisation and the collapse of traditional shipping groups caused many lines to disappear altogether. Others merged – Europe trade heavyweight P&O with Nedlloyd, Danish carrier Maersk with America’s Sealand. One major line serving New Zealand, Mediterranean Shipping Lines, was Swiss. In the cyber age, many ships displayed their owners’ websites on their hulls.
End of the old lines
Containerisation was a new word, and with it came businesslike branding for container ships such as ACT 1 and ACT 2 (named after the Associated Container Transportation company). In contrast, the names from an earlier era were often more evocative – Shamrock, Breeze, Star of Canada.
The shrinking merchant marine
Few New Zealanders now work at sea, and local shipowners have almost vanished. In 1989 the government privatised its unprofitable Shipping Corporation of New Zealand (set up in 1974). In 1994 it opened the coast to international competition. Official policy was that New Zealand was a ship-using, rather than a ship-operating nation. By 1999 South Pacific Shipping, Tasman Express Line, and even the once-mighty Union Steam Ship Company had pulled out. Between 1995 and 1999 the number of ships on the New Zealand shipping register increased slightly from 2,977 to 3,051, but their total gross registered tonnage halved from 482,180 to 253,739, reflecting the reduction in large trading vessels.
One area of growth, the Cook Strait ferry services, was marked by volatility. The rail ferries shared the route with a succession of competitors, and fast catamarans vied for business. In 2008 three Interislander ships competed with two Strait Shipping vessels on the Wellington–Picton run.
Those New Zealanders who earned their living in shipping mostly did so ashore, as ship agents, freight forwarders, marine surveyors and the like. The Cook Strait ferries and a few coasters were still locally crewed, but most sea jobs were in harbour ferries, excursion craft and deep-sea trawlers, or in highly specialised craft such as underwater cable-layers.
