The annual summer cruise ship season is starting to wind down. After today only five more visits are scheduled before it ends early next month.
The last busy period commenced with the arrival of Dawn Princess on Saturday, Aurora and Volendam yesterday, and Pacific Dawn today. All are operated by separate companies that are part of the Carnival group.
Aurora is a newcomer to the local scene. Owned by Carnival PLC and operated by UK-based P&O Cruises, the ship entered service in April, 2000. Originally registered in London, the ship was transferred to Hamilton (Bermuda) registry in December, 2007.
This 76,152gt, 270m-long vessel can accommodate 2290 passengers. A twin-screw diesel-electric vessel, Aurora was designed to operate at a speed of 24 knots.
The ship was built in Papenburg, Germany, in the undercover construction facility of Jos. L. Meyer. Balmoral, here a fortnight ago, was also built there in 1998, but in its unlengthened form as Crown Odyssey. Another cruise ship that emerged from the Papenburg yard in 1997 was here three years ago under two names, Mercury, then Celebrity Mercury.
Aurora has been a popular choice of name by many shipowners over the years. The last ship of this name to call here was an 8854gt motor ship owned by Finska Angfartygs A/S of Helsinki. Delivered from Smiths Dock, Middlesbrough, in October, 1971, it berthed in Dunedin on May 4, 1976, to load cargo while on charter to the French liner company, Messageries Maritimes.
Then there were the variations of the name when the 46,009gt, Daewoo-built container ship Contship Aurora called here on its maiden voyage on September 25, 2002, then later in 2005-6 as CP Aurora.
Making its 14th visit yesterday was the 28,616gt Cap Cleveland. Built in 2007, it is one of 12 2824teu vessels that have made 133 calls at Port Chalmers over the past four years on charter either to Hamburg-Sud or Maersk. All were completed from 2005 to 2008 by the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co Ltd, at Ulsan, South Korea.
Yesterday also saw the departure of the tanker Atlantic Lily, another Hyundai Mipo-built vessel. This newcomer was laid down on April 4, 2008, launched on June 13, and delivered on July 31, 2008.
The tanker is a 29,266gt, 47,128dwt vessel having an overall length of 183.21m and a service speed of 15.43 knots. It is also one of 14 sister ships, all of 29,266gt, delivered from this yard in 2007-08 for operation by the Cido Shipping interests of Hong Kong and Seoul. Atlantic Lily is owned by Heroic Libra Ltd and is registered in Hong Kong.
While Dong Won No. 530 may have brought a new name to the port last week, this vessel has been here before on charter to New Zealand fishing companies. The 815gt vessel, dating from 1983, served several Japanese owners before being sold to South Korean buyers. It has now been owned by the Dong Won Fisheries Company since last year.
It first came under that country's flag, to make four visits from January-March 2006, as Marinui. Its other visit, on November 14, 2008, was as the Pentas Corporation's Pentas No 1.
A few months later, while unloading fish at Bluff on April 22, 2009, the vessel's bosun received serious head injuries when he fell more than 5m into the hold. He later died in Christchurch hospital. The vessel was detained in port for two days.
An inquiry found that at the time of the accident there were four unsafe practices, of which three contributed to it.
