The saltwater highway

New Zealand, a country 'rinsed by the sea', has a shipping story to tell as long and convoluted as its coastline. Thoroughly researched, with an eye for a good yarn but also with an acute sense of the shifting social and political changes over the years, McLauchlan tells an informative and engaging tale. Divided into five parts, the book covers the early colonial days, the developing (and still functioning) ports, working on the wharves, port reform and the move, in later years, to containers.