Taken by Peter Davey / Chris Howell, www.shipspotting.com
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Built in Hoogezand for the Northern Steam Ship Company, she was powered by one 800hp diesel engine, which produced a service speed of 11.5 knots.
She primarily operated out of Auckland and Tauranga to South Island ports, but was a regular caller at Onehunga during the 1960s to carry frozen food, beer and general supplies to Deep Cove, Doubtful Sound, the location of the Manapouri power scheme.
5000 tons of cargo was carried south by "Maunganui", "Awanui", "Moanui" and "Poranui" each month during the course of what was, at the time, the biggest shipping contract ever let in New Zealand, and half of it was loaded at Onehunga.
Sourced from Ships of NZ Facebook page
As well as the essentials for the workers on site, equipment also had to be shipped south. "Maunganui" carried a disassembled 300 ton sliding steel floor to Bluff on one voyage - it was reassembled there and transported to the site - and on another voyage, she carried a disassembled 45 ton tunneling machine, which was reassembled on site.
She was sold to Australian interests in February 1971 for trading between West Irian and Australia's eastern coast, but a year later was seized for the non-payment of wages to the crew. Very soon after, she was on the market, and Singaporean operators swiftly acquired her, putting her to work around Asia for nine years.
In 1981, Bangladesh owners acquired her and she served her remaining days operating out of Chittagong to various inland river ports in that country until January 2004, when she was broken up in her home port, months short of turning 50 years old - a remarkably long life.
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