In a few weeks time, it will be the 40th anniversary of the coming of the container ship age to Port Chalmers. Hamburg Sud's Columbus New Zealand introduced this concept of cargo handling to the port when it berthed on June 26, 1971, while on its maiden voyage.
At the time, this 19,146gt, 1187 TEU, 193.99m-long, German-built, 22-knot turbine steamer held the distinction of being the first container ship in the fleet. The vessel (and others that followed) was built for the Columbus Line's North America (east coast)/Australia/New Zealand service.
Now known as the Trident service, it has been maintained mainly in recent years by much larger, chartered vessels. But this year, still larger, company-owned vessels, the 2007-built, 41,483gt, 3630 TEU sister ships Bahia and Bahia Grande, have called here since being transferred to this run.
Until the arrival of Cap Jervis yesterday they were the largest owned vessels to appear here in the company's full livery. This includes the name Hamburg Sud painted in white letters on their hull. The three Liberian-flag ships were built at Goeje, South Korea, by South Korea's second-largest shipbuilder, the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company.
Built last year, Cap Jervis, laid down as yard number 4190 on March 8, was launched on May 15, and delivered on July 1. With a gross tonnage of 47,877 tonnes and deadweight of 59,266 tonnes, the ship was designed to operate at a speed of 22.50 knots.
On the basis of its nominal container capacity of 4600 TEU, including 516 reefer plugs, it is the second-largest container ship to call here. The Offen-owned Maersk Detroit, here in December 2009, can carry 5018 TEU.
Vessels in the Trident service usually arrive here from Timaru and depart for Napier. However, Cap Jervis arrived here directly from Melbourne. With an overall length of 264.32m the ship is too long to be handled at Timaru. The ship is currently scheduled to make two voyages in this service.
Two vessels making their debut in the log trade, and also built last year, are Paiwan Wisdom, delivered on April 22, and Siva Emerald, on September 15.
Paiwan Wisdom, due at Port Chalmers this week, was built by the Hakodate Dockyard Company for Taokas Marine S.A. of Taipei. This 19,825gt is one of a series of 31,800 dwt vessels built at Hakodate, Japan since 1997. Paiwan Wisdom will be the 11th of them to berth here.
Those popular 28,000 dwt bulk/lumber carriers, built at the Imabari group's shipyards in Imabari, Japan, just keep on coming. The 17,025gt Siva Emerald, which loaded logs at Dunedin last week, was built at the Imabari yard for the Wealth Line Inc, also of Imabari.
Two other Panama-flagged vessels of this type have called recently. The seven-year-old Sea Harmony (16,950gt) made its first visit to Port Chalmers for logs last month. And Glorious Sunshine (16,960gt) certainly did not live up to its name when it sailed in thick, drizzly conditions from Ravensbourne last week. This ship, built at the Shimanami yard, also in Imabari, in 2007, was here for logs in February 2010.
There have been been more than 100 visits to this harbour by vessels built by the Imabari group since 1976. Sixty-one of these came from the Imabari yard and a further 29 from its Marugame yard.
