Vessel On Maiden Voyage

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31775, 4 September 1968, Page 16

Vessel On Maiden Voyage

When the new refrigerated carrier Japan Kowhai sails for Japan from Lyttelton today she will have 1950 tons of New Zealand mutton in her four holds.

The Japan Kowhai, which loaded the bulk of her cargo at Bluff and Timaru. is loading 300 tons at Lyttelton. She has been built to replace the company’s Hidaka Maru and is the only fully refrigerated Japan Line vessel in the New Zealand-Japanese trade. Her sophisticated navigational equipment includes all standard modern apparatus, including radar and a telex system for receiving weather reports and news. A tween deck vessel, she is designed for expeditious cargo handling. Her accommodation is sited aft, leaving a long Clear foredeck.

Her French diesel engine, manufactured under a Japanese licence, has 14 pistons, with small cylinders. This makes for economical cruising. Although she is not a large vessel compared with the other members of the company’s fleet, she is nevertheless 406 ft long, with a beam of 55ft 9in. She has a crew of 33 and is commanded by Captain Kenji Minematsu, a 65-year-old grandfather who was last here in command of the company’s Kokei Maru three years ago. After the vessel’s arrival yesterday morning, a group of Christchurch people presented the master with a kowhai plant, which was later displayed in his cabin.