Shipping News Coastal Trader's schedule altered

Press, 16 January 1979, Page 15

Shipping News Coastal Trader's schedule altered

Lack of cargo for Dunedin has changed the weekly schedule of j the Shipping Corporations roll-!, on vessel Coastal Trader. The ship arrived at Lyttelton i from Auckland yesterday morn- • ing and was to have sailed for Dunedin in the afternoon. 1 However, the Dunedin cargo was sent by rail and the Coastal:! ■ Trader will be laid up in Lyttel-|l ton until tomorrow, when she!2 (will resume the Auckland link. An ironic aspect of the coming visit by the Antarctic expedition and cruise ship Lindblad Explorer is that the agency ’ which pioneered the new tourist concept in New Zealand no *- longer exists. The Hoim Shipping Company in Christchurch arranged the visit of the Magga Dan in Janu- j ary and February, 1968, and handled ail the pre-tour book- < ings. rt former member of Holm j Shippings staff, Mr J. W. John-1 ston, who was connected with j j the arrangements, still works at Lyttelton. | ( He is now the Lyttelton man- j ager of Guthrey Travel and Ship-] i ping, Ltd 1 Scepticism greeted the New; Zealand shipping company’s an- < • nouncement that it could arrange H . cruises to the Antarctic, but J • the idea had been suggested 40 >' years previously. Mr A. Leigh Hunt, who was I responsible for the formation of , the first Antarctic Society ol • New Zealand, said at a public; meeting in 1927: “I honestly be > lieve that the day will come< when there will be cruises to the Antarctic just as there arc '!tu the Mediterranean, the Eai East, and other parts of the | world.” i The challenge was taken up bv J. Lauritzen Lines, of Denmark. who appointed Holm and j Company as its New Zealand I agents. 1 The Danish company s engineers were told to design a' /ship capable of handling thej Antarctic conditions, and a ves I sei called the Kista Dan was launched in 1952. The Magga Dan, launched in 1956, was built “for trade in the Arctic and Antarctic, and is therefore strengthened to an unusual extent.” She carried general cargoes for several years and first came to New Zealand 1 in 1957 with apples from Nova Scotia, leaving with frozen meat L for Japan. Demand for the Kista Dan and the Magga Dan came from unI expected areas at the ti>ie, and could not always be met. Frequent charter applications came from British. Belgian. I I French, and Australian expedi 1 tions between 1957 and 1967, and the Magga Dan in particular ’made many trips to the An I tarctic. »| The Lindblad Explorer has been chartered from a Swedish 5 firm by Lindblad Cruising Expeditions, of the United States. II The ship has a bow thruster and J nine landing craft and draws a . maximum of only 4.60 m: she t 1 seems to have been designed for Antarctic cruising and research.

ARRIVALS Coastal Trader <7.13 a m.)» 2500, Auckland. Capt. D. Watt. DEPARTURES Nil. EXPECTED ARRIVALS Union Lyttelton, Wellington, today. Hermina, Japan, today. Ngahcre, Tauranga. today. August Moon, Wellington. January 18. Discoven Bay, Wellington, January 19. Wellington Star, Suva, January 19. Union Hobart, Wellington, January 20. Josef Wybicki, Tauranga. January 20. Taulotto II Nelson, January 20. PROJECTED DEPARTURES Union Lyttelton, Melbourne, today. Coastal Trader. Auckland, January 17. Wellington Star, Wellington, January 19. Union Hobart, Dunedin, January 20. Hermina, Auckland, January 20. Holmdale, Chatham Islands, January 21. VESSELS IN PORT Coastal Ranger, No. 2 West. Coastal Trader, No. 4 East. Milburn Carrier, dry dock.