Timaru businesses to benefit from Chatham run

Timaru businesses to benefit from increased services to Chatham Islands

Napier-based company, 44 South Shipping Co Ltd, arrived in Timaru for the first time on Saturday, 11 September to extend its freight and livestock services for its Chatham Islands customers, while aiming to offer increased services to Timaru businesses. The MV Baldur will be visiting Primeport as part of its regular run from September 2010.

“For some time now, our Chatham Islands customers have been asking us to provide a service from Timaru to the islands. The decision to stop at Timaru is very much about responding to our customers’ demands,” says 44 South Shipping owner, Dennis Nisbet.

“We want to build upon our existing service running between the islands and Napier, which was established in 2009. Our Napier service has provided a much needed boost to the Chatham Islands’ farmers’ economy and in 17 months our company has taken over 45,000 stock units into the Port of Napier.”

According to Mr Nisbet, the increasing demand from his customers to extend services to Primeport Timaru is because many of them already have good relationships with local businesses.

“Based on this feedback, Shane Barber (Shore Manager) and I decided that the service would be extended to include Primeport, with two sailings a month. This has been gratefully received by the wider Chatham Islands community.

“We anticipate that local businesspeople, as well as our Chatham Island customers, will benefit from this extended service as it will offer them more choice around pricing and service levels. We understand how important these trade agreements are between New Zealand communities and their overseas partners and customers, so we aim to support and facilitate them as much as we can,” says Mr Nisbet.

“Our customers and those businesses we work with at Napier know that 44 South Shipping is there for the long haul.We will bring that same commitment to Timaru. Our longstanding relationships are testament to this.”

Chatham Islands Enterprise Trust, former CEO IanMcFarlane, has been supportive of 44 South Shipping’s increasing services stating this has been needed for some time.

“The Chatham Islands Enterprise Trust realised the dependency of being reliant on one shipper – not only as this created a monopoly, but also because we felt it could not cope with the demand. We contacted Dennis who responded positively. He set up a low key service with more realistic freight prices to the Island,” says Mr McFarlane.

“This service has grown in popularity for a number of reasons. If the Chathams is to grow and prosper, it needs more kiwi entrepreneurs with Dennis’s initiative to move forward. This can only help the Chathams, the New Zealand ports and the local communities surrounding them, in order to develop strong economies for all stakeholders.”

ENDS

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