The name Bahia has enjoyed a long history with ships of the Hamburg South America Line (Hamburg-Sud) since 1872. Yesterday, the sixth ship of the name made its first appearance at Port Chalmers.
Bahia was the first of six sister ships ordered from the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company. The ship was laid down at Okpo on October 13, 2006, launched two months later on December 15 and delivered on February 9, 2007.
All five sisters that followed had a suffix added to their names. Fourth member of the class Bahia Grande was here on its second visit three weeks ago.
Both of these 254m-long Liberian-flag visitors are vessels of 41,483gt. This makes them the longest and largest Hamburg-Sud visitors to this port. Designed to carry 3630teu, their container capacity can also include 610feu (the larger 40ft equivalent units).
These sisters also have 844 reefer plugs and a service speed of 22.40 knots. They have been transferred to the Trident, North America service because of the demand for increased capacity on this route. Hamburg-Sud operates 115 container ships on its worldwide network of 44 liner services, including 19 to South America.
The first Bahia was a steamer of a mere 1983gt built at Sunderland by the J. Laing shipyard. Delivered on March 27, 1872, it was bought while on the stocks. The fourth vessel to join the fleet, it had accommodation for 40 first-class and 160 steerage passengers. Bahia sailed on its maiden voyage on May 6, 1872. Sold in 1885, it served other owners until 1916 when it was broken up at Genoa.
Bahia (2), built at Newcastle by Armstrong, Mitchell and Company, entered service on September 4, 1886. Slightly larger at 2281gt, it also had berths for 40 first-class but 280 steerage travellers. Retained only until 1897, the ship served various owners until scrapped at Algiers in 1927.
At 4763gt and built to cater again for 40 in first class and 450 in steerage, the third Bahia was handed over by the Reiherstiegwerft yard, Hamburg, on May 27, 1898. In 1900-01 it served as a troopship during the Boxer uprising in China.
Upon the outbreak of war, Bahia sheltered at Montevideo in August 1914. Later, on September 1, 1917, it was seized by the Uruguayan Government and renamed Paysandu. After engine repairs, it returned to service and was eventually broken up at Copenhagen in 1927.
Bahia (4) was the first motor ship of the name in the fleet. It had been bought while being built for a Bergen company by the Kockums yard at Malmo, Sweden. A cargo-only vessel of 4117gt completed during October 1927, it certainly had an interesting wartime history.
In 1940, Bahia was taken over for use as a naval transport. On December 22, 1941, it was torpedoed and sunk off Sylte Fjord, Norway, by the submarine HMS Seawolf. But history repeated itself after it was raised, repaired and returned to service in 1943, because on April 22, 1944, it was again torpedoed and sunk off the Naze, Norway; this time by the submarine HMS Ula.
Bahia (5), a 22,838gt bulk carrier, was built at Rio de Janeiro for a company subsidiary, the Cosmos Shipping and Trading Corporation of Liberia. Delivered in October 1985, it was sold a month later, after making a loaded voyage to East Germany.
The name of the Singapore-flag Clipper Lasco, which left last Friday for Inchon after loading logs both in the upper and lower harbour, has an interesting background. This 16,954gt newcomer was laid down at Imabari on October 16, 2003, and delivered on February 6, 2004.
The ship was the first to be built after the announcement in October 2003, of the sale of the Schnitzer group's Lasco Shipping Company and its 23 ships to the Clipper group of Denmark and the Bahamas.
Lasco, founded in 1963 and based in Portland, Oregon, became a major shipper of forest products, steel and bulk cargoes. It used to be represented here by its Pac ships. The Clipper group started operations in Denmark in 1972 and now operates about 250 vessels, including bulk carriers, ferries and tankers.
