It’s all mod. cons in today’s major cargo vessels

Press, 19 August 1978, Page 16

It’s all mod. cons in today’s major cargo vessels

By

JOHN LESLIE

Conventional cargo liners of the world-ranging Ellerman group were once familiar callers at Lyttelton. These were vessels engaged mainly in the North American (Atlantic coast) and St Lawrence trade with New Zealand. But the container age has pushed many fine vessels of this class off the seas. There has been a shipping revolution — not only in the naval architecture, but in cargo handling, navigation, and manning. The four photographs just received from Britain

bear witness to the fact that the Ellerman group is no sluggard in the “container age.” The Ellerman group is large, and the City of Durban is a member of the Ellerman-Harrison branch.

The first Sir John Ellerman founded a huge merchant fleet which at one time, numbered more than 100 vessels, although there were subsidiaries too. There were also some notable passenger vessels.

The City of Durban, shown left, came into sers vice only last February. She is a speedy vessel equipped with the latest Redifon satellite navigational aids capable of “pin-pointing the ship’s

position to within 150 feet, anywhere in the world.” For older Seafarers this sort of thing is little short of miraculous. But there is more to come. The engine control room from which all the

major functions of the City of Durban are operated, include the generators and the computer for the container refrigeration system. There has also been a revolution in the manning

of merchant vessels. Another photograph shows a typical petty officer’s cabin de luxe aboard the City of Durban. According to the Ellerman group, the vessel has been equipped so that “all

officers* and crew’s quarters are designed to accommodate spouses” during the voyage. It is unlikely that the City of Durban will visit Lyttelton in the near future but other revolutionary vessels are already calling here. Experienced pilots of the Lyttelton Harbour Board staff, and shipping officials generally, are daily receiving new surprises as they learn of modern navigational, cargo-handling, and manning innovations. The City of Durban is one of these.