Only 15 Pre-War Ships In Service To Britain

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30026, 10 January 1963, Page 7

Only 15 Pre-War Ships In Service To Britain

Th* PW Special Sarvtea WELLINGTON, Jan 9. Only 15 ships built before World War n remain in the Britain-New Zealand cargo service. Theae ahipa account for about 145,000 gross tons, 15 war-built ships total 144.000 tons, and since the war 01 vessels totalling 1.000.000 tons have entered the service. The oldest in the trade is now the Taranaki of the Shaw Savill Line. She was comp’ "ted in May. 1929, and is two months older than her sister, the Coptic. There is apparently still a future for these old-timers, as the company recently said that as there was to be no new tonnage to be constructed, it was the intention to keep the older units in commission. Another pre-war Shaw Savill ship is the Waipawa. of 1934 vintage, bringing the line’s early tonnage up to 28300. Recent pre-war disposals were the Karamea, a sister to the Coptic and Taranaki, and the Dominion Monarch. Two vessels totalling 24,100 tons were built for this company during the war and 24 post-war ships aggregate about 290,000 tons. Eight of these are powered by steam turbines and the others are motor ships.

The Port Line has six units which were built before 1939, the oldest being the Port Fairy and Port Alma, completed in 1928. The others are the Port Chalmers, Port Jackson, Port Wyndham, and Port Quebec. Disposals over the last 15 months have been the Port Dunedin, Port Huon, Port Fremantle, Port Halifax, and Port St John. Five ships were built during the war, totalling 44,400 tons, and 19 post-war ships of 183.500 tons complete the fleet, which is now entirely driven by oil engines.

The Federal Line has two pre-war ships of 23.000 tons in service. They are the Durham, the first motor ship

owned by the company. She waa buHt at Belfast in 1934. The other vessel is the Suffolk, of 1939 vintage.

During the war, the line had one ship of 8500 tons built Since then 10 motor ships and two steamers, totalling 117,000 tons, have been built

The Blue Star Line still has four pre-war ships, the oldest being the New Zealand Star.

The three war-built vessels total more than 24300 tons and the 19 ships built since the war total 195,000 tons. Altogether the line operates 21 motor ships and five steamers.

Of the five Conference lines, only the New Zealand Shipping Company has no pre-war units in service. The last were the Rangitata and Rangitiki, which were scrapped last year.

The oldest vessel in the fleet is the Hororata, built in 1942. Three other steamers, of an aggregate tonnage of 42.000, were built during the war. Since the war one steamer and 15 motor ships of 196,700 tons have been acquired.