# Shipwreck beach Luanda - Danish Interline ship?



## ctaylor232 (Aug 19, 2014)

Info request on ship’s past:

Hello everyone, apologies if this is the incorrect place to ask my question as I am new to here.
I work in Luanda, Angola and recently took a trip about 20 miles North to a place known as shipwreck beach. Close up we looked at 5 boats/ships but there must have been about 20 visible along a 3 mile stretch, some beached some out at sea stranded. Some ships like the Karl Marx are destroyed with only sections remaining. However, one ship looked like it had been beached fairly recently, or maybe to my untrained eye it had been there some time and the rest had just been there even longer. The ship in question had large letters “Interline” on the side and looked like a roll on / roll off car ferry perhaps? We were able to go inside via a hole that had been cut into the side at beach level. The lower deck was flooded and I would estimate it was listing at about 5 degrees (I am not a sailor so these are just my weak observations) A large sign in a foreign language had English underneath saying the gangway must be up before departing port. I have found out that this is in Danish so I presume the ship was built for use in Denmark. There is a large Angolan flag painted on the side, professionally done not some beach graffiti which makes me think it was sold to operate in Angola. The name on the side of the ship is Mukankala II , I don’t know if this was its original name? Large letters above the bridge say “Grupo” and “Mello Xavier” The interior has been completely gutted unless its part of the structure and welded then it has been removed. A few small A5 size pieces of paper littered the bridge which I think were navigation chart amendments, dated 1997. Does anyone have any information about this ship? I have no reason to ask other than curiosity and google has failed me. I have pictures if anyone is interested – many thanks.


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

ctaylor232,

firstly on behalf of the Moderating team welcome to SN.

I have been unable to find any info on this vessel but I am sure someone will come up with an answer. 

Mello Xavier is the name of the company. Seems the owner was jailed for some crime. Quite a lot about him on the web but no info on the ship.

Hawkey01


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## Henry B (Mar 18, 2012)

Hi

I think I've found some info on this ship. She was built as the LIDER in 1981 by Danyard Frederikshavn, Denmark. She was sold in 1983 and re-named MERCANDIAN SUPPLIER II. In 1988, she was sold again and re-named CIDADE DE FUNCHAL. She was then re-named in 2000 as the CIDADE DE AMBOIM and used by Interline in Angola. Not too sure what happened to her after that but I discovered a picture on Flickr showing her laid up in the port of Luanda in a pretty bad state. She may have had her name changed to MUKANKALA II afterwards and was for some reason beached between late 2012 and early 2013. I am not a 100% of this put it looks to be the same ship.

Here is the Flickr picture:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/goya/...W3im-cTW3Tj-cTW4WQ-7wMDto-yr5gs-4BAmLj-5ZHGy2

Here are some old pictures on Shipspotting:
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1830505

By the way, I would love to see you're pictures of the wreck. Could you please send me them? It would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Henry


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Henry,

He has not been on site since August so maybe a PM to him may get a faster
reply.

Hawkey01


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## CFZ (Jun 29, 2016)

*Mukankala II Photos in Cacuaco, Sept 2015 and June 2016*

Dear Henry

It has been a long time since you have made this comment but never too late to give some pics.

The pic with the mast in place was last September, in 2015. The other 2 photos were taken now in June 2016.

Hope you will see them.

Best regards

Carolina





Henry B said:


> Hi
> 
> I think I've found some info on this ship. She was built as the LIDER in 1981 by Danyard Frederikshavn, Denmark. She was sold in 1983 and re-named MERCANDIAN SUPPLIER II. In 1988, she was sold again and re-named CIDADE DE FUNCHAL. She was then re-named in 2000 as the CIDADE DE AMBOIM and used by Interline in Angola. Not too sure what happened to her after that but I discovered a picture on Flickr showing her laid up in the port of Luanda in a pretty bad state. She may have had her name changed to MUKANKALA II afterwards and was for some reason beached between late 2012 and early 2013. I am not a 100% of this put it looks to be the same ship.
> 
> ...


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## R58484956 (Apr 19, 2004)

Greetings *Carolina *and welcome to *SN*. Bon voyage.


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