Taken by Dave Gallie, www.shipspotting.com
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Built in Ulsteinvik, she is powered by four Caterpillar diesels - 2 x 800hp and 2 x 400hp - through one gearbox to a variable pitch propeller, producing a service speed of 12 knots.
Ice strengthened, she boasts three holds, one for general cargo and the others for refrigerated goods, allowing for three different temperature settings. All are served by derricks, including a heavy-lift derrick for loads up to twenty tonnes, and three cranes. Her wheelhouse features almost complete 360 degree vision.
She was a combinaton tonnage vessel - 499 tons in open shelter deck mode, 2700 tons in closed shelter deck mode, the latter on a 16.5 foot draught.
"Lorena" was the second vessel operated by the Cook Islands Government, and she endured plenty of incidents during her time operating in the South Pacific, engine problems central to many of them.
Sourced from Ships of NZ Facebook page
It was under their governance that she first visited Onehunga, in March 1973. A year later, she was put up for sale, and a $1.1m offer was received from a European buyer. The NZ government of the day said they would buy the vessel, but didn't follow through on the deal until just prior to Christmas 1974, when the Cook Islands Shipping Company terminated the service they were providing on the grounds that the NZ government was acquiring two vessels from Europe to compete against "Lorena".
With no alternative vessels available, and 4000 tons of cargo required urgently in the Cook Islands, the NZ government was forced to do what they said they would six months earlier and buy the ship, at a cost of $750,000.
On the hard at Whangarei. Courtesy Heritage Images, Derek Messenger, 1186-039
"Lorena" thus became the first vessel of the Shipping Corporation of New Zealand's fleet, and operated from Onehunga to the Cook Islands, Tahiti and Niue Island in conjunction with the Foreign Affairs Department of New Zealand.
She was sold to Middle East interests in 1978, and has worked for a variety of customers since, including her most recent operators in Ghana, for whom she served as a carrier vessel to fishing fleets. Her fate is unknown.
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