11 Nationalities In Ship

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29745, 12 February 1962, Page 13

11 Nationalities In Ship

A shortage of seagoing staff in the Swedish Mercantile Marine left the shipowners of Sweden no option but to recruit staff from other countries, said Captain V. Klintbaeke, ot Stockholm, aboard the motorship Axeline Brodin at Lyttelton yesterday.

Captain Klintbaeke and most of his officers are Swedish but he has 11 nationalities aboard. The 9080-ton Axeline Brodin will begin discharging potash from Long Beach. California, today. The ship is four years and a half in age.

Three Belgian stewardesses lend a lighter touch to the atmosphere of the Axeline Brodin and, according to an officer, the presence of various nationalities makes conditions interesting. Ten nationalities represented are Swedish, Belgian. Norwegian. Danish. Finnish. Dutch, German, Greek, Spanish and Turkish. The eleventh is a Hungarian by birth but has taken new nationality. In addition to quarters for a complement of 34. accommodation is provided for four passengers in two twinbedded rooms with private toilet facilities.

The Swedish-built ship, which takes its name from a

combination of the owner’s name. Brodin. and the Christian name of a woman relative of the owner, spends little time at home. “Most of her time is spent in tramping and her service is world-wide.” said Captain Klintbaeke. Twelve thousand tons of potash were loaded at Long Beach for New Zealand South Island ports and the Axeline Brodin has already discharged the bulk of it at Bluff and Dunedin. After discharging the balance, about 1200 tons, at Lyttelton. she will sail in ballast for Sydney to load coal for Japan, probably about Thursday.