FREIGHTER KAMO FOR SALE

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28435, 15 November 1957, Page 13

FREIGHTER KAMO FOR SALE

Former German Ship

“The Press’’ Special Service AUCKLAND. November 14. The Union Steam Ship Company's 1450-ton freighter Kamo, formerly a German minesweeper and submarine supply ship, has been put up for sale in Sydney. But so far. owing mainly to a “glut” of second-hand ships, the company has been unable to dispose of her. Built in Wcscrmundc, Germany, in 1943, the Gaarden, as she then was, was captured in the Pacific during the war. Handed to the New Zealand Government as a war prize, she was sold in 1946 to the Union Steam Ship Company. Her name changed to Kamo, the vessel was at first put on the New Zealand coastal run. She traded mainly between southern ports, allhough she was occasionally seen in Auckland. After about a year the Kamo was transferred to the Australian coastal trade. There, she has been employed for the last 10 years carrying salt, potatoes and othei general cargo between east coast ports. Recently the Union Company bought a new vessel to replace the Kamo and the former submarine supply ship was put up for sale in Sydney. She has now been lying idle in Sydney harbour I for over three months. The (Union Company has had several offers for her. but they have not been attractive enough. The comipanv values the Kamo at about £ 100.000.

i Specially designed for her wartime role, the Kamo is believed !to bo the only ship of her kind 'in the Southern Hemisphere. Powdered by two five-cylinder diesel engines, she is 235 feet long and ,34ft in beam, with a cargo capacity of 76.400 cubic feet. All her I machinery is located aft. She carries a crew of 25.