Record trade moves through PrimePort

By Chris Hutching

Friday 5th March 2004

The peak of the agricultural season has provided PrimePort Timaru with one of its biggest ever weeks, highlighted by the introduction of Tasman Orient Lines upgraded North Asian service.

A record was also chalked up for the largest number of containers exchanged on a single ship by Maersk Sealand on a recent weekly stop, when the three mobile container cranes discharged and loaded more than 900 containers on the Nicolai Maersk.

Chief executive Jeremy Boys said the larger loadings coincided with the start of the export season. The port was dealing with heavy volumes of dairy products, meat, vegetables and fish.

To accommodate the increase in Fonterra's increased output from its Clandeboye plant, PrimePort is building a warehouse over 2ha at South Beach, which is half-built and already one-quarter full.

Tasman Orient Line has introduced two additional vessels to their North Asian liner service. Chief executive Ulrich Stelling said it was a response to the increasing volumes of cargo coming from the region. The additional ships in the line would provide Timaru importers and exporters with three port calls per month instead of the previous fortnightly service.

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