# Banana boats



## Keith Hirst (Jul 31, 2006)

Can anyone help out with the history or use of three ships, Nicoya, Sandham and Veator (spelling??)? The period I am interested in is the early 1950s. (Thumb)


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## gdynia (Nov 3, 2005)

Keith Hirst said:


> Can anyone help out with the history or use of three ships, Nicoya, Sandham and Veator (spelling??)? The period I am interested in is the early 1950s. (Thumb)


Keith

Heres info on the Nicoya

Mowddach 3410 366 45 B6 1935 1935 PONTOS, F.Laeisz, Hamburg. 
1940 German Navy. 
1945 Seized by Allies at Flensburg. 
1946 EMPIRE MOWDDACH, MOWT managed by Elders & Fyffes Ltd.. 
1947 NICOYA, Elders & Fyffes Ltd. 
1959 Scrapped Briton Ferry.


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## Tony Breach (Jun 15, 2005)

Hi Keith,

NICOYA you have from Gdynia.

SANDHAMN

Launched 19.12.1940
Completed 06.08.1941 by Oresundsvarvet, Landskrona as Hull No.65 for Rederi AB Pulp (Sven Salen), Stockholm.
Official No. 8478 Call Sign SEGT
GRT 3201.38 NRT 1746.35 LOA 106.96m LBP 100.58m Breadth Mld 14.42m
Total refrigerated bale capacity 169,460 cuft.
Original Propulsion was by 4 x 5 cylinder Atlas engines of total 3640bhpto a geared to a single shaft but these were changed out to 4 x MAK MSU-581-A 6 cylinder 4-stroke oil engines of 1000bhp each at 315RPM with electro-magnetic couplings & single reduction gearing to a single propeller shaft for 135RPM during a rebuild in 1954.
Auxillary engines: 3 x MAK MS-423 6 cylinder 4-stroke oil engines of 400bhp each at 375RPM coupled to 3 x generators of 245kW each.
Reefer plant by Stahl with 4 x Sabroe freon compressors with total capacity of 708,000 kcal/hour.

In March 1964 she was sold to Great Pacific Navigation Co., of Taipei & renamed CHEN TEH under the Taiwanese flag.

I lost trace of this ship & do not have her disposal details.

I think your final ship was named VIATOR & there were 3 reefers of this name:
VIATOR (1) 1938 which became:
ANGELBURG 1939
EMPIRE WHARFE 1945
ZENT (3) 1947
Scrapped Bruges 1962.

VIATOR (2) 1940 which became: 
CHRISTIAN SINDING 1941
VIATOR (2) 1945
GUINEE 1948
COMFORT 1963
Scrapped Taiwan 1969.

VIATOR (3) 1950 which became:
HERBORG 1958
ZORZAL 1970
ESTEMAR II 1973
I do not have the disposal details of this vessel.

VIATORs (1) & (3) were built at Oresundsvarvet, Landskrona.
VIATOR (2) was built by Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen.

If you let me know which VIATOR you are looking for I can give more details.

Eat a banana every day!
Tony


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## gdynia (Nov 3, 2005)

Can only find one reference for a vessel with name Veator. She was on the fruit trade in New Zealand but was in the 30,s.


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## Tony Breach (Jun 15, 2005)

Greetings Gdynia,

Noted you have found a VEATOR from the 30s. I don't have her in my files of about 4,000 reefers so would welcome some more info on the lady. Unusual for a banana boat of that vintage to be able to trade with NZ as it would have been difficult to accommodate sufficient fuel for the trip.

Musa sapientum - bananas are good for you.
Tony


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## gdynia (Nov 3, 2005)

Tony Breach said:


> Greetings Gdynia,
> 
> Noted you have found a VEATOR from the 30s. I don't have her in my files of about 4,000 reefers so would welcome some more info on the lady. Unusual for a banana boat of that vintage to be able to trade with NZ as it would have been difficult to accommodate sufficient fuel for the trip.
> 
> ...


Tony
Its in the NZ Index as having entered Kiwi ports on several occasions during the 30,s. No basic info on owners etc


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## Rory (Jun 10, 2005)

*E&F NICOYA-3*

Here is a PIX of the ex German motorship as Elders & Fyffes "Reefer" NICOYA-3

Cheers,
Rory


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## Tony Breach (Jun 15, 2005)

Many thanks Gdynia,

There is always a lot of confusion about the term "reefer". I have had some correspondence with Soren Thorsen about this & it is most likely that the word was "invented" by Knud Lauritzen in the 1930s specifically for their ships. There is no doubt that it is defined by those within the reefer industry as to the technical specifications of the vessels & that the term "reefer" indicates a vessel that can carry any refrigerated cargo within the temperature span of +12C & -25C with specific air. circulations of up to a minimum of 70/hour & air renewals from zero up to a minimum of 2/hour. It is actually a lot more complicated than that but let's keep it simple. The type of ship so defined is what is also generally known as a banana boat; a type which before WW2 was pretty much confined to the banana companies. They were generally small but fairly fast which caused some limitations for range particularly with coal burners. Some refrigerated carriers were converted to reefers over the years, notably the Nelson "Highlands" (partially) for Jamaica Producers & more recently 3 Blue star ships. Blue Star, Shaw Savill & Cunard purchased second hand reefer tonnage & Blue Star & P&O group built some as well with Star Reefers eventually beoming a major player. The Norwegians were very much a driving force within the reefer business with the advent of the motor reefers during the inter-war years.

With the polarisation of refrigerated ocean transport during the 70s much of the perishable trades became containerised in reefer boxes, in many cases operated by the old liner companies who then had no employment for their previous refrigerated ships. These modern, good quality fairly young vessels were then sold on to mainly tramp operators who tried to operate them in the established reefer markets with some difficulty as they were unable to carry the staple cargo which is bananas plus some other volatile fruits. At the same time, MFC & Salen were saturating this part of the business with a major new reefer building programme. (I was involved with Shaw Savill's old ZEALANDIC in the early 80s which became almost impossible to trade in the reefer sector & went for scrap at the age of only 18 years.) For a short time the term "pure reefer" was used to describe the real reefers until all of the unsuitable vessels disappeared. I have also seen the strange description of a "meat reefer". Now there are basically only two types which are referred to as "reefers" & "freezers" (basically fish carriers) - the freezer being unable to tramp effectively. On several occasions I have been involved in reefers carrying frozen fish at -20C in the lower decks & bananas at +13.5 in the upperdecks at the same time. 

Interesting Statistic: Annual banana seaborne transportation requirement is 5,898 Bio cuft/miles out of a total seaborne refrigerated transportation requirement of 17.248 Bio cuft/miles. (These figures were for 2000)

A fascinating business
Tony


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## gdynia (Nov 3, 2005)

Tony
Several years ago when I was on the Reefer Ships mainly Banana Boats a Agent in the USA told me after Oil and Iron Ore the carriage of Bananas was number 3 in the list of cargoes(money wise).


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## Tony Breach (Jun 15, 2005)

Gdynia my friend,

Very interesting observation. The (now defunct) UK Safeway supermarket magazine of September 2003 stated, in respect of bananas: "In Britain we now spend more on them (bananas) than any other supermarket item apart from petrol & lottery tickets. More than 90% of households buy bananas every year".

The United Fruit Company is considered to be the world's second multinational company after the Hudson's Bay Company & is most certainly the first American multinational although it was only founded as such in 1899 after the Boston Fruit Company amalgamated with Minor C. Keith's Central American (Costa Rican) interests: just 107 years ago.

I would be very interested to know in which US port the agent gave you that gem of correct information: I am guessing it was in California - am I correct? I am also guessing that you were with either Fyffes or Salen at that time - how am I doing on that one?

Look forward to your comments,
Tony


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