NEW LINERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 141, 1 April 1940, Page 6

NEW LINERS

MARIPOSA AND MONTEREY TO BE REPLACED j Construction of two 35,000-ton j liners for the Cali!'ornia-N.Z.i-Aus-tralia service of the Matson Line is expected to begin in the United j States, soon. I They will -be the largest constructed in America and will cost about £6,250.000. The ships are described by the Americans as super-liners—what is known as the "P-4" type. They will replace the Monterey and the Mariposa in the service from San Francisco to Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne. | The United States Maritime Commission, which will undertake construction, is expected to call tenders for four of the class. Subsidised Service. The original scheme called for two, but the second pair will be operated in the California-Orient service. The Matson Line, operating under subsidy from the U.S. Government provides Americans with the only American flag passenger service to the South Pacific. For that reason, the first of the four linersmay come into the Australian trade. The liners each will be 759 feet long and 99.8 feet in beam, with a service speed ot more than 24 knots. They Avill be about 8000 tens gross larger than the largest vessel in any section of the Australian trade. If they use the service speed planned, they will cut down considerably the transit time between Australia and the United Slates, and. Avil! cross the Tasman at a speed:' of about three and a half knots faster than the present speed of Matson liners.