CRUISES IN THE MAORI

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33435, 17 January 1974, Page 3

CRUISES IN THE MAORI

The former interisland steamer Maori (above), which was sold yesterday Io Asian buyers, would be used as a cruise ship in South-East Asia, the president of Wiltopps (Asia). Ltd, (Mr Harold Choy), said at a news conference in Wellington yesterday, the Press Association reports. Mr Choy would not disclose the price his “family company” paid for the 7480-ton ship because, he said, it could affect negotiations in the forming of a new tourist company in Malaysia. The Maori, to be registered in Hong Kong, will make five-day cruises in the Malaya-indonesia-Bor-neo region. Mr Choy admitted that he had paid “a bit more” than the $480,000 that Youth with a Mission had agreed to pay when it attempted to buy the former Union Steam Ship Company vessel. The Maori will be towed to Hong Kong soon, and air conditioning and modern electrical equipment will be installed. She will be repainted white. “I would like to have kept the name Maori, but the Union Steam Ship Company won’t let me,” Mr Choy said. He did not know yet what the ship would be called. He said that Wiltopps had attempted to buy the Maori when the Youth with a Mission group had an option on the ship. Mr Choy was not concerned about buying a new ship in the face of a worldwide bunker shortage. He said Wiltopps, which owns four dry-cargo ships, had a world-wide bunker contract.