Owners: South Pacific Shipping Ltd.
Operators: South Pacific Shipping Ltd., Christchurch 1992 - 1997
IMO 8410392
GRT: 3,120
Net: 1,732
Dwt: 3,654
Length overall: 88.63
Beam: 15.70
Draught: 6.436
Built: 1984
Builders: J.J. Sietas KG Schiffswerft GmbH & Co., Hamburg
Yard No: 943
Holds: 1 53.3m
Hatches: 1 (steel) (51.3 x 12.5)
Cranes: 2 x 30 tons
Engines: Oil 4SA 6Cy. 320 x 350 with flexible couplings & sr geared to screw shaft. 1,434bhp by Wartsila
Service speed: 13.8 knots
Names history:
As built: Sleipner
1987: Brynmore
1988: Sleipner
1991: Blue Wave
1992: Rangitoto
1997: Noumea Express
2005: Bougainville Coast
A well travelled little ship as this extract from NZ Marine News Vol.42 No.1 shows:
"Launched from the Sietas yard at Hamburg in September 1984 as the Sleipner for m.s. 'Sleipner' J Kahrs KG of that city. In early 1987, she was renamed Brynmore for a charter which saw her trading regularly between Belfast and Swansea. At the end of 1988 she reverted to the name Sleipner and traded in European waters until the end of May 1991, when she was renamed Blue Wave and crossed the Atlantic, operating on the east coast of North America and in the Caribbean with the odd voyage back to Europe. She ventured further afield in 1992, going to Callao, Buenaventure, New Orleans, Milford Haven and Karachi, where she arrived on 17th May 1992. From there she voyaged to the South Pacific for the first time and became the Rangitoto."
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Arriving in Melbourne in June 1992 as Blue Wave she drydocked there from the 16 - 19 June and emerged as Rangitoto, the first Sietas Type 111a chartered by SPS. She remained in the fleet until 1997 and is the only one of the former fleet still in the South Pacific area. Currently, she is trading as Bougainville Coast in the Papua New Guinea area.
Rangitoto has been chartered out/sold to Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation and renamed Span Asia 19. The change of name occurred sometime in September 2014 and she is now operating on various routes around the Philippines.
