32,000 sheep to go to Rumania

Press, 10 April 1979, Page 2

32,000 sheep to go to Rumania

What is believed to be the biggest single shipment of livestock to leave New Zealand. about 32,000 sheep, will be loaded at Lyttelton this week for Rumania. The converted carrier Sinaia is due at the port at noon today. After fuel, fodder and other equipment are loaded tomorrow, the sheep will be loaded on Thursday. The manager of the stock and station department of New Zealand Fanners at Christchurch (Mr H. L. A. Morley) said he believed the number of sheep was a record for a single shipment from New Zealand.

They are all breeding sheep — about 22,000 Corriedales and 10,000 Romneys —r and all two-tooth ewes except for 600 rams. Two of the company’s staff will join 14 shepherds on the ship as part of the crew, and the voyage is expected to take 30 days.

The Sinaia is making her first visit to New Zealand and only about her second as a livestock carrier after being converted from a tanker and bulk cargo vessel. The ship ran aground near Hong Kong and remained there for a year before arriving at Osaka, Japan, in August 1978, after a nineday tow. She was repaired and converted to a livestock carrier and recently completed a voyage from Fremantle, Australia.

This week’s shipment from Lyttelton includes 11,000 sheep from Hawke’s Bay and the East Coast of the North Island, and the rest from Marlborough to Central Otago. “The Rumanians seem to like our sheep, mainly, I suppose, because some of their climatic conditions are similar to New Zealand’s,” said Mr Morley.