OIL REPLACES STEAM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20282, 15 December 1927, Page 12

OIL REPLACES STEAM.

DAY OF THE MOTOR SHIP. NEW ZEALAND-BRITAIN SERVICES. (Special to Daily Times.) WELLINGTON, December 14. A remarkable feature of the shipbuilding programmes of the companies engaged in the New Zcaland-Britain trade is that not one steamer is under construction. Nine vessels are under construction at the present time, and they are all to be motor ships, a striking testimony to the development of the internal combustion engine for marine purposes. Four large cargo ships, which are being constructed for the Shaw, Savill, and Albion-White Star interests are to be named the Zcalandic, Canbcrric, Taranadi, and Karamea. The principal dimen•sions of these ships will be: —Length be- 1 tween perpendiculars, 487 ft; beam, 64ft Sin ; depth, 42ft lOin; and they will carry 10,000 tons deadweight on a draught of 28ft 9in. The ships are being specially constructed and fitted for the carriage of wool, meat, dairy produce, and fruit. Each will have a capacity of 400,000 cubic feet for refrigerated cargo. They will be twin-screw ships, propelled by j powerful Diesel engines of the latest typo, and will have a speed enabling them to make the passage between London and New Zealand in 33 to 34 days. The Zoalandic and the Canberric will be ready for delivery to their owners early in February. According to the Motor Ship, the New Zealand Shipping Company has placed an order with Messrs John Brown and Co., of Clydebank, for the construction of three large motor ships for the New Zealand trade, which will be the highestpowered cargo vessels in the world. The ships will measure 525 ft in length and 70ft in breadth, and will each have a cargo capacity of 16,000 tons. They will be twin-screw ships, propelled by two sets of five-cylinder Brown-Sulzer Diesel engines, each of 5000 shaft horsepower at 05 revolutions per minute. A feature of the ships will be their powerful electrical equipment. Each ship will be fitted with two six-cylinder Sulzer Diesel engines of 780 b.n.p, and two Weir Sulzer motors of 300 horsepower, and direct coupled to dynamos. The new ships, which are as yet unnamed, will be ready for service early next year. The Commonwealth and Dominion Line, which first introduced the motor ship to the London-New Zealand trade some three or four years ago, and has five vessels of this type in service, has ordered two more. The new ships, which are to be named the Port Fairy and the Fort Alma, will closely resemble the Port Gisborne, which recently visited New Zealand on her maiden voyage from London. They are being constructed by Messrs Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson at Newcastle-on-Tyno. They will be twin-screw ships propelled by two sets of Doxford fourcylinder opposed piston Diesel engines, developing 8000 horse-power and giving a speed of 14J knots.