FAST CARGO SHIP

Taranaki Daily News, 30 January 1930, Page 13

FAST CARGO SHIP

SOME RECORD TRIPS. COPTIC’S PERFORMANCES. The most outstanding developments in shipping since the conclusion of the Great War have been along the lines of quicker and more efficient cargo transport. There have been some conspicuous examples of improvements in the speed and luxury f ocean liners, but in many cases services are still almost on a par with those of pre-war times. The modern freighter, however, as distinguished from tiie casual tramp steamer, is in a class by herself, quite distinct from the old ten or twelve knot vessel which was once regarded as the most economically serviceable. Commerce of to-day requires quick and punctual deliveries, and engineering progress has given the latest types of cargo carrier a speed that was formerly the prerogative of mail vessels alone.

A typical example of what is achieved by this new class of vessel in the trade between Britain and Australia and New Zealand is afforded by the motor-ship Coptic, of the Shaw, Savill Line, which is visiting New Zealand. One of four recent additions to the fleet, the Coptic is on her fourth outward voyage from the Old Country, her maiden trip having been made to Auckland and the two following ones to Australia. She has been in service for 16 months, and during that period has covered almost 100,UdO miles. This must be very close upon a world’s record for a freighter, and has been contributed to not only by the speed of the ship, but by the excellent cargo-handling facilities both aboard and ashore which have given her quick dispatch from London, from New Zealand ports and from Australian ones extending round the long coast from Fremantle io Cairns in North Queensland. Like all motor-ships, the Coptic had to be “run in,” so that her first voyage established no outstanding times. On her third trip, though, a record went by the board, for she travelled from London to Fremantle in 29 days, calling en route at Port Said, Aden and Colombo. Her actual time at sea was 28 days, and her average speed 15| knots, was the fastest yet recorded on this cargo run. Actually her time was a day less than that taken by the P. and O. mail liners, though these big steamers make more ports of call. This new service established by the Coptic and her three sisters, the Karamea, Zealandie and Taranaki, enabled English cargo to be landed in Sydney in 11 days, the same as that taken by tne mail boats. On her -record trip the vessel finished discharge in Cairns, 15,000 miles from the port of departure, in 56 days, and during that time had delivered 11,000 tons of cargo. How marked a contrast is this from the sailing ship conditions which still hold in the mcipories of many New Zealanders, or even from the conditions existing a bare ten years ago. On the New Zealand coast, too, the Coptic has shown a fast turn of speed, and claims a record for any vessel between Wanganui and Lyttelton. This trip she covered <a few months ago at a speed of 16.2 knots, while her recent performance of 3 days 3 hours from Suva to Auckland eclipses all but mail boat speeds. Her master is Captain G. Williams, R.N.R., who was in command of a British destroyer during the Dardanelles campaign. Since the war Captain Williams has had command of his company’s Matatua, Mamari and Mahia.