SOLD TO THE EAST

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 25, 29 July 1933, Page 13

SOLD TO THE EAST

UNION COMPANY'S KATOA

LAID UP IN WELLINGTON

It is understood that tho Union Company's steamer Katoa, which has'been laid up in tho stream at Wellington for some time, has been sold to Eastern buyers. It is not known yet when she will sail. The Katoa is one of the many Union Company vessels "which have been acquired by Eastern buyers in recent years. The Waipori, Whangape, Karori, Koromiko, Kittawa, and Kauri were all sold in 1928, the Kaitangata and Kaiapoiin 1929, the Kaituna and Kamona in 1931, and the Waitemata, Kurow, and Waitomo this year. The Katoa is tho fourteenth of the company's vessels to be sold for service in Eastern trade. Tho Katoa, which was one of the Union . Company's best known traders, was built in 1912 by Osbourne, Graham,' and Company, Sunderland, and is a vessel of 2484 tons gross. Her principal dimensions are: Length 298 ft, breadth 45.3 ft, and depth 20ft. . * . The Moller Line, of Shanghai, are the owners of four former Union Company steamers, and have also bought a number of old vessels in Australia. One of their recent acquisitions was the Kurow, which was bought in May and sailed last month for the East, via Australia. She was renamed the Mabel Moller, and when she left Newcastle on July 2 she was accompanied by the Ethel Moller, ex Duckenfield, which had also been bought by the Moller Company.

On arrival in the East the newlybought vessels are thoroughly overhauled, many replacements being made, with tho result that an additional fifteen years' service is obtained from a ship about twenty or twenty-five 'years old. The smaller steamers in the Moller Line's trade are used in tho North China coastal service, in the carriage of coal to Japan and Manchuria, and in the Burma trade. The larger vessels' go further afield where cargoes offer. Captain B. A. Young, who was in command of the Mabel MOller, stated when he was in Auckland in June that trade on thei China, Coast fluctuated considerably, but5, that it appeared to be gradually increasing. There was plenty of'cargo offering, but freights" were low. An improvement in conditions seemed to have started, however, and there were indications, that trade would be better *n the nest few months.