CHINA BOUND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27040, 26 March 1949, Page 6

CHINA BOUND

KAIKORAI TO SAIL OLD STEAMER SOLD China bound, the 3151-ton steamer Kaikorai, is due to leave Port Chalmers next week. Now owned by the Hvvah Lee Steamship Company, of Shanghai, the Kaikorai was operated by the Union Steam Ship Company from 1921 to 1947 on intercolonial and coastal trade routes. The Kaikorai has been laid up at Port Chalmers since the end of October, 1947. She had reached the end of her economic life in New Zealand waters, the Union Company stated yesterday, when announcing the sale of the old steamer. Representatives of the Hwah Lee Company are expected to arrive in New Zealand next week to take delivery of the steamer. The crew of 42, mostly Chinese, who will reach Port Chalmers on Tuesday, will be flown from the Far East to Auckland and from there will travel to Dunedin by train. The Kaikorai is almost ready to sail and she is expected to leave soon after the arrival of her new crew. She will go first to Westport and from there to the Far East. Built in 1918, the Kaikorai was launched as the Cape Natal and later became the War Foam. In 1920 she was bought by the Union Company which renamed her and she arrived on the New Zealand coast in January, 1921. She is driven by a single screw and her normal speed is 9 to 10 knots.

CHINESE CREW EN ROUTE Rec. 9 p.m. DARWIN, Mar. 24. A full Chinese crew' of 40 for the Kaikorai arrived by airliner to-day en route for Port Chalmers to take delivery of the ship