LARGE FLEET

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 140, 25 March 1948, Page 3

LARGE FLEET

UNION COMPANY PURCHASES (P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The Union Steam Ship Company has purchased from the United States Maritime Commission the motor vessel Cape Alava, which is- to be renamed Wairimu, and is likely to be empldyed in the New Zealand-Calcutta trade. This was announced to-day by the general manager of the company, Mr M. B. Miller. The Cape Alava, which was built at Tacoma, Washington, in 1941, has an overall length of 417 feet, a deadweight tonnage of 9000, and a sea speed of 141 knots. She is at present at Baltimore. Captain G. B. Morgan will transfer next week from the Union Company’s Wairata at San Francisco to take command of the Cape Alava. Executive officers for the ship, including Mr R. Gardner, chief engineer, have already left Auckland for Baltimore. The Cape 1 Alava is the 14th vessel obtained by the company since the termination of the war. The company’s fleet now comprises 58 vessels and three tugs, making it the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and the fifth largest numerically in the Empire. Seven further cargo vessels have been ordered. Five of these are under construction in the United King-' dom and the construction of the other two is to be begun shortly at the State Dockyards at Newcastle, New South Wales. They will be the first vessels built for the company in Australia.