ANOTHER NEW SHIP

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19455, 14 October 1937, Page 14

ANOTHER NEW SHIP

UNION COMPANY'S ORDER 6000-TON CARGO BOAT (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. Another Important addition to the already large shipbuilding programme of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, Ltd., has been announced by the head office of the company An order has been placed with Hawthorn, Leslie and Co., Ltd., Newcastle-on-Tyne, for a new cargo steamer for the Union Company’s inter-colonial trade. This vessel will be a ’tween deck ship with the arc-form design of hull and will have a deadweight cargo capacity of 6000 tons. The machinery is designed to give a service speed of 13 knots, which will be developed from steam reciprocating engines driving a single screw. The boiler furnaces will be fitted for oil fuel, with provision foi conversion to coal-burning. Eight Vessels Building This order makes a total of eight new ships under construction for the Union Steam Ship Company, the others being as follows: Kakapo, 2500 tons gross register; Kahika, 1500 tons; Wanaka, 2370 tons; Karitane, 2250 tons; Korowai, 2500 tons; Komata, 3800 tons; and Kurow, 3800 tons. The two lastmentioned ships are designed for the intercolonial cargo trade and each will have a deadweight carrying capacity of about 4000 tons. The Kahika, which is shortly to be launched at the yards of Henry Robb Ltd., at Leith, will be christened by Mrs Bourchier, wife of Colonel the Hon. M. W. J. Bourchier, C.M.G., D. 5.0., V.D., Minister of Labour in the Victorian Government. The Kahika is destined for the trade between Melbourne and Tasmania. The Union Steam Ship Company has carried out extensive replacements in its fleet during the last 18 months. Notable additions to the Red Funnel fleet have been the express liner Awatea, 13,482 tons; the fast islands trader Matua, 4193 tons; and the cargo motor-ships Karu, 1044 tons; Kauri, 2361 tons; and Waiana, 3363 tons. These five ships, and these now on order, make a total of 13 new vessels aggregating approximately 47,000 tons gross register.