Newspaper Article 1994 – Three-ship Asian freight run planned

Three-ship Asian freight run planned

Hawke’s Bay cargo is being targeted for a new three-ship service between New Zealand, Hong Kong and South China.

Cosco NZ Ltd’s general manager Stuart Ferguson said yesterday that after his recent trip to Japan, China and Korea, the service looked 98 per cent certain.

Mr Ferguson said he had been in Hawke’s Bay late last week and told the Port of Napier Company details could not be finalised until Cosco secured the ships.

“With the current shortage of shipping tonnage, we might be looking at second best, meaning two ships or even one ship.”

Mr Ferguson said he hoped to firm up details of the service after a trade mission to China late next month.

Cosco recently increased its office space in Napier by 20 per cent and plans taking on at least one extra staff member in response to rapidly increasing customer demand and projected cargo growth between Hawke’s Bay and China.

Owned by the Chinese Government, Cosco recently added a sixth ship to its existing New Zealand-Asia fleet, moving to a fixed-day weekly service that includes a call every Friday to the port of Napier.