Doug Wright

Latest reports on the fate of Queen Elizabeth 2 indicate that the former iconic Cunarder is still heading for China.

Another larger addition to the Mediterranean Shipping Company's Capricorn-Europe hub service, is MSC Regina, a first-time visitor last Friday.

Last year's shipping movements contained 93 vessel names that appeared here for the first time.

The largest cruise ship operator in the world, the Carnival group, has been well-represented here, with a ship in port each day since last Wednesday.

Records are made to be broken.

Movements at Port Chalmers last month resulted in 29 visits from overseas vessels - 17 container ships, seven cruise liners, four log ships and one woodchips carrier.

Following the departure of Forest Creator on April 23, the stockpile of woodchips has steadily grown to its present proportions to dominate the storage area at the Beach St berth. Now, after the best part of seven months, Esprit Lotus is due here on November 17.

Holland America Line cruise ships were introduced to Port Chalmers with the arrival of Maasdam on October 21, 1994.

Following the announcement that Maersk and Hamburg-Sud would be pulling out of Timaru, Bahia Castillo closed this link with their joint service to the east coast of North America a month ago.