War Economy
Quicker Turn-round of Ships
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Quicker Turn-round of Ships
By 1944 the annual tonnage of shipping arriving from overseas had fallen to 60 per cent of its 1936 to 1938 average level. Not only were fewer vessels coming, but they were spending less time around the New Zealand coast. Fewer ports were visited, and attempts were made to speed up cargo handling. Some impression of the reduction in numbers of ports visited by overseas vessels can be gained by comparing tonnages of all overseas vessels entering any port with tonnages of those entering their first New Zealand port. This indicates a fall from an average of 3·4 ports of call in New Zealand before the war to 1·8 by 1944. Consequently, while
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overseas shipping reaching New Zealand fell in tonnage to 60 per cent of its level before the war, overseas shipping handled in all ports fell by 1944 to only 37 per cent of pre-war tonnage. This reduction in the handling and coastal movement of overseas vessels made a material contribution to the more economical use of the seriously reduced tonnages of shipping at the disposal of the allied nations.
1Warships of all kinds are excluded.
| Year | Counting Only Vessels Entering Their First New Zealand Port(millions of tons) | Counting vessels Entering any New Zealand Port(millions of tons)2 | Average Number of New Zealand Ports Visited by Each Vessel3 |
| 1936 | 2·9 | 10·0 | 3·4 |
| 1937 | 2·9 | 10·0 | 3·4 |
| 1938 | 3·1 | 10·1 | 3·3 |
| 1939 | 3·0 | 9·8 | 3·3 |
| 1940 | 2·8 | 7·8 | 2·8 |
| 1941 | 2·3 | 5·0 | 2·2 |
| 1942 | 2·3 | 5·5 | 2·4 |
| 1943 | 2·1 | 4·5 | 2·1 |
| 1944 | 1·8 | 3·7 | 2·1 |
| 1945 | 1·8 | 3·8 | 2·1 |
| 1946 | 2·1 | 4·8 | 2·3 |
| 1947 | 2·1 | 5·0 | 2·4 |
| 1948 | 2·1 | 4·9 | 2·3 |
| 1949 | 2·4 | 5·9 | 2·5 |
2 For example, a vessel which enters three ports has its tonnage counted three times in this column but only once in the previous column.
3 Derived by division of the preceding two columns. Other figures have been published (e.g., on p. 213 of the 1950 Yearbook) which are based directly on the number of calls made by each vessel irrespective of tonnages.
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