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This book is still in preparation but it is now largely complete. The title is a triply relevant name, firstly a comment on the stormy southern seas through which New Zealand's oil supplies were shipped, secondly a reference to the bumpy administrative road for those controlling the system, and thirdly a play on the Petrel, one of the birds of the open ocean and chosen as the name of one of the coastal tankers (Taiko = black petrel)

It tells the story of the major changes that took place in the oil industry in New Zealand from the mid-1960s. That was when the oil refinery at Marsden Point came into operation. This joint venture by the New Zealand oil companies was parallelled by a joint shipping operation. It is a story that is almost entirely unknown but it is the history of an important part of New Zealand's infrastructure through a period when New Zealand as a whole underwent great changes.

The ships, the products, the ports, the people involved, the way that the work was done. These are some of the ingredients of a fascinating story, and there are many highlights and crises along the way.

The refinery at Marsden Point was opened in 1964. It was expanded, coming on line in 1985, and the Refinery Auckland Pipeline was brought into service at the same time.

There is much that is factual description but the stresses and strains of this operation are never far away. It is a story that will be informative. It is also a story that deals with resourcefulness in the face of never-ending problems, the objective being always to succeed in maintaining oil supplies to the New Zealand public. Only rarely did the problems emerge into public view, though it was often a very close call.

When the oil industry was deregulated in 1988 the results were dramatically different from the effects of the later reform of the electricity industry. In the oil market there were frequent supply problems but they had no impact on consumer prices and (apart from the worldwide oil shocks of 1973 and 1979) they led to no warnings of shortages in the market place.

In telling this story it has been possible to draw extensively on documents of the Union Steam Ship Company that have been deposited in Wellington's Museum of the City and Sea. These have provided information on the coastal tankers that didn't find its way to oil industry files. Much information has come from people who were involved in the overall field of shipping, refining and oil marketing. They have been able to add valuable comments on the author's own recollections and opinions. Personal notes, correspondence and memories have been very fruitful. People have often tended to keep interesting records of events in which they were involved. Newspaper reports, available on library microfilm, have proved invaluable. Diligent searches on the Internet have uncovered a surprising amount of information and have also led to contacts in New Zealand and overseas who have been able to add their experiences and recollections. Diaries and other reminiscences published on web sites have given useful and interesting highlights. Coastal tanker operations have been the subject of university theses.

The source information for this story is thus very varied and extensive. Internal records have hence become only a small part of it. In many ways it has made it possible to see and to draw out some of the patterns and problems in the coastal tanker operation that were not always obvious when one was immersed in the day-to-day work.

When writing on one's own it is hard to stand back and see the results objectively. It has been gratifying to have positive comment from those who have had small parts of the text to read. One has written "I particularly enjoyed your commentary, humour and personal anecdotes". That sort of comment is immensely encouraging, especially as it came from someone who has done a good deal of writing, who knows the subject, and who would never say something unless he believed it.

Finally, from material that has been "squirrelled away" it has been possible to introduce enough facts and figures to make the book into a thorough presentation of quantities of oil movement, the work loads of the tankers, the changes in the market, the characteristics of the tankers. It is a book full of information but at the same time it is a story that is likely to interest, to amuse, and to hold the attention of any reader.

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