Now operated by foreign-owned container ship companies, regular transtasman services were once the domain of Australian and New Zealand lines. One that began in March 1983, was a joint venture between two state-owned entities, the Shipping Corporation of New Zealand (SCONZ) and the Australian National Line (ANL).
Known as the Transtas service, it was structured to provide a container ship service between the ports of Auckland, Wellngton, Lyttelton and Port Chalmers with Sydney and Melbourne. This arrangement came to and end in February 1989, a few weeks before SCONZ was sold to ACT New Zealand Ltd.
New Zealand's first contribution to this service was the 6166gt, 443teu New Zealand Trader, a second-hand vessel built in 1980. It arrived here for the first time on February 28, 1984, and made its final 34th call on May 11, 1986.
This vessel was later joined by the 10,991gt, 728 teu New Zealand Mariner, another second-hand purchase dating from 1977. Seen here for the first time on August 25, 1985, the ship continued calling here after SCONZ had been sold off. Its final visit on September 25, 1990, was also its 65th.
ANL's first ship to call here on this run was Darwin Trade, but much earlier, on April 14, 1983. Classed as a bulk/carrier/container ship built at Newcastle, New South Wales in 1970, container capacity of this 10.802gt vessel was only 243teu. It called here for the last time on its 24th visit on September 14, 1984.
As a replacement, Australian Endeavour was transferred to the service. Built in Germany in 1969, the 25,144gt, 1223teu turbine steamer had been launched as ACT 3. Taken over by ANL, it was employed in one of the first Australia overseas container services run in conjunction with the ACT consortium.
The ship's nine local visits between October 2, 1984, and April 30, 1985, were something of a stop-gap measure. Succeeding it was the 7218gt, 430teu Australian Trader, a second-hand vessel built in 1978.
Australian Trader went on to become one of the most frequently-seen container ships at Port Chalmers. The vessel's 156 visits from May 31, 1985, to November 15, 1996, were just short of the record 160 calls by the Japanese-owned Godwit from January 1977, to June 1996.
A running mate for Australian Trader came in the form of the 11,982gt, 1034teu Tranztas Trader, which first appeared here on June 6, 1989. The ship's 112th and last visit on November 30, 1996, also ended the link between the state-owned line and this port. In company with its smaller consort, the vessel often loaded horses here for transport to Melbourne.
The loss-incurring ANL was sold in 1998 to what is now the third-largest container ship operator in the world, CMA CGM S. A. of Marseilles. An Australian link has been retained under their control and a few years ago the ANL Esprit, ANL Progress and ANL Yarrunga came here on the transtasman run.
As for Tranztas Trader, its interesting career came to an untimely end several months ago. The ship was the fourth of eight 16-knot sister ships ordered from the East German yard of VEB Mathias-Thesen Werft at Wismar. They were built for the Joon Shipping and Trading Company of Rotterdam, a company that appeared from nowhere in 1981 and after 10 years disappeared into thin air when declared bankrupt in June 1991.
Completed as Watergeus in December 1988, the ship was bought by ANL early in 1989. Transtaz Trader remained in the fleet until 1998 when it was sold and renamed Orient Aishwarya under the flag of Panama. Later that year it was resold to spend the rest of its career as Phu Tan under the flag of Vietnam.
Last year on December 16, the vessel operated by Vinalines of Haiphong was reported to have sunk 110nm southwest of Hainan Island in heavy weather following an engine breakdown and water ingress. At the time the ship was on a voyage from Da Nang to Haiphong. There were only two survivors from the complement of 25 crew members and two passengers the vessel was carrying.
