THE LATEST OUT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 156, 30 December 1938, Page 4

THE LATEST OUT

Although reports from Home indicate that a large number of shipyards are experiencing a dull time at present and that many have no ships on the stocks at all. quite a few new vessels visited the Dominion this year. They were, of course, a mere handfui { to spread over all the building yards of Britain, but New Zealand, nevertheless, contributed her share towards increasing the Empire's mercantile fleet. Not that all the new ships were owned in New Zealand or were built specially for this trade, for some of them were onyl "casual" callers. . Many of the vessels had much ofl interest about them. All being mod-! em, they had the latest developments for the carriage of cargoes, navigation, and accommodation and several had very good speeds. It is obvious that the demand lor speed has been complied with in the construction of modern cargo liners and several records were broken in the last twelve months. UNFORTUNATE VOYAGE. Among the early visitors this year the Port St. John made a somewhat unfortunate maiden voyage. A sistership to the Port Halifax and the Port

Montreal, the Port St. John was specially built for trade between Canaria and the Antipodes by Joseph L. Thompson and Sons, Ltd., Sunderland. A single-screw motor-ship of 5668 tons, she is 465 feet in length. 59 feet in breadth, and,has. a moulded depth of 39 feet 4 inches. Her service speed is ,134 to 14 knots and on her '.rial she made nearly 16 knots. With Her heavily-raked stem, streamlined deckhouses, ' and modern equipment, she represents ' the latest in motor cargo liners.^. / While en route .from ifrew Zealand to "Australia the. Port St. Johri,,went ashpre at Lady Elliot Island and despite strenuous efforts which were made for over a week she remained fast. At last, aided by two tugs, she was refloated and the damage repaired.

The Port Montreal, of 5882 tons, was another new ship to come out, and, like her two sisters, is an open shelter deck motor-ship. She is 438 feet 6 inches long on the waterline by 59 feet wide by 29 feet 8 inches deep, moulded, to the second deck. A point of interest is the extensive use that has been made of electric welding in the construction of the ship. William Doxford and 'Sons, Ltd., Sunderland, built her. ' >. .

THIS YEAR'S VISITORS TO DOMINION

About the same time, the Port Halifax also visited New Zealand. Of 5820 tons, she is 433 feet long. 59 feet beam, and 39 feet 5 inches in depth. With the exception of the shell plating she is all welded. Built by Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, Ltd., Newcastle, she has three steel decks, a raked stem, a cruiser- stern, and steel masts. A splendid example of modern shipbuilding, the Port Jackson, specially constructed for the carriage of refrigerated and general cargo, was another new arrival. She was also built by Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, Ltd., at Wallsend-on-Tyne. Her length, between perpendiculars,. is 495 feet 6 inches, her breadth, moulded, is 68 feet, and her depth, moulded, to the upper deck, is 41 feet 6 inches. Her holds are insulated to a capacity of about 495,000 cubic feet for refrigerated cargo and there is 234,000 cubic feet for general cargo. She has a service speed of 16 knots. A SPEEDY VESSEL. The Shaw, Savill Company's new motor-ship Waimarama proved to be a speedy vessel and broke the record from Liverpool to Auckland on her

maiden voyage. She made the passage'in 27 days 8 hours of actual steaming time, which is particularly good time considering that she was taken at reduced . speed to allow her engines' to be run in. She had a mean average of 20 knbts on her trials and on the outward voyage her average speed was nearly 18 knots. Built by Harland and Wolff, Ltd., Belfast, the Waimarama, of 11,300 tons, has 600,000 cubic feet of refrigerated cargo space equipped with the most up-to-date refrigerating plant for the carriage of Empire produce. In general design she is similar to her predecessors, the Waiwera,"- : Waipatya,:" and --Wairangl, being a twin-screw vessel of the shel-ter-deck type, 535 feet 6 inches long 70 feet beam, and 43 feet 4$ inches deep. A sister-ship of the Waimarama, the Waiotira, is on order from Harland and Wolff. The Shaw, Savill, of course, has the Dominion Monarch coming to the Dominion on her maiden voyage early in 1939. -

Built by William Doxford and Sons, Ltd., Sunderland, for the New Zealand Shipping Company, the Kaipara also paid her first visit to the Dominion during the year. ;Of 5883 tons, she is 438 feet 6 inches long, 59 feet beam, and 29 feet $ inches deep,

moulded, to the second deck. Insulated space for meat and vegetables is arranged in a 'midship storeroom. The Kaikoura, also recently built for the New Zealand Shipping Company, came out early in the year, on her maiden voyage. She is of 5852 tons, and was built by A. Stephen and Sons, Ltd.. Glasgow. With a length of 440 feet, a beam of 59 feet, and a depth of 39 feet, she has been designed to carry about 9800 tons deadweight, including 500 tons of refrigerated cargo. She has a speed of about 13 knots deep laden. BLUE STAE SHIPS. One of several recent additions to the Blue Star Line's speedy fleet, the Brisbane Star, made/a fast passage out to New Zealand. in March. She is 11,076 tons and wassbuilt by Cammeil, j Laird, and Co., Ltd., Birkenhead. She has a guaranteed speed of 17i knots on a draught, of 29 feet, but has frequently exceeded this speed for long periods. Like the other ships of her class she is well fitted out for the. carriage and handling of cargo. At present building for the Blue Star Line are the Wellington Star, the i Auckland Star (to be ready early next year), and the Adelaide Star. The Wellington Star arid the Auckland Star, which will be similar to the ships recently launched, will have a service speed of 18 knots with reserve, and it is intended to have them running fairly consistently in the New Zealand trade. The Union Steam Ship Company has, had five new ships out this year, the last of them, the steamer Waipori, arriving early this month from Rotter- ' dam. She attained a speed of more , than 15 knots on her trails. The Wai- ' pori is the eleventh new ship built for ■ the Union Company during the last three years and the eighth of the new cargo ships. The others are the Awa- I tea, Matua, Taroona, Kauri, Karu, Wai- , ana, Kakapo, Wanaka, Kahika, and I Korowai. The Wanaka, Kahika, Ka- j kapo, Korowai, and Waipori all ar- 1 rived during the last twelve' months and there are three more ships to Be delivered next year. They are | the sister steamers Komata and Kurow and the motor-ship Karitane. which are fitting out at Home. While this is not a complete list cf the new ships which have visited New Zealand, it will be seen that the Dominion is well served with modern I and fast cargo liriers, and that the companies concerned in the trade are ' keeping well up. with' the times. It is not so long ago.that a trip of eighty days from New Zealand to the Old Country was considered good; how a passage of thirty days (or even less) causes little comment. And next year will see some more interesting visitors to our shores.