Сафмарин: История южноафриканской судоходной компании

South African international shipping company

Safmarine, short for South African Marine Corporation, and latterly South African Marine Container Lines, was a South African shipping line, established in 1946, which offered freight transport services with cargo liners and container ships. It was bought by Maersk Line in 1999, and was fully integrated into that company in 2020. It also operated passenger vessels and specialised cargo ships.

The company was founded in June 1946 by South African industrialists and American ship owners with three American wartime Victory ships. In 1950 it came under American control but in 1959, the Industrial Development Corporation helped finance its repurchase and returned it to South African control. In 2020 Safmarine was fully subsumed into Maersk Line.

Safmarine operated a passenger liner service between the United Kingdom and South Africa between 1965 and 1977 and again between 1984 and 1985.

Safmarine passenger operations had begun in 1965, when two Union Castle Line ships used on the Southampton–Durban service, and Pretoria Castle, were transferred to Safmarine to satisfy demands from the South African government. and Safmarine ordered a replacement ship based on the same design from Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft in Kiel, also to be named .

Safmarine purchased three Victory ships (Westbrook Victory, Westerly Victory,) from the US and, after modifications to convert them from war use to general dry cargo, they entered service in 1947. They were named Vergelegen, Morgenster and Constantia. These three ships enabled Safmarine to start a South Africa based cargo enterprise. In 1961, their names were changed to South African Victory, South African Venture and South African Vanguard. In 1966, the prefix South African on all Safmarine's ships was changed to S. A. In the engine rooms there were two Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers supplying superheated steam to two Westinghouse turbines geared down to a single shaft, giving and a speed of For electrical power, two steam turbines drove DC generators.

The next four sister ships to be brought into service were South African Trader, South African Pioneer, South African Transporter and South African Merchant. They were designed for carrying general dry cargo and had berths for twelve passengers. All were built in Scotland and entered service in the mid 1950s. Each ship had were two Yarrow water tube boilers and two Parson type turbines geared down to a single shaft, giving approximately and a speed of For electrical power, three Ruston Hornsby diesel engines drove DC generators.

In 1961, South African Statesman, South African Seafarer, and South African Shipper joined the fleet. They were designed for carrying general dry cargo, and were built in Scotland in the 1950s for the Clan Line then the Springbok Shipping Co. These ships had a distinctive cowl top on the funnel and were fitted with Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers and three Parson type turbines geared down to a single shaft, giving approximately and a speed of Electrical power came from generators driven by three Ruston Hornsby diesel engines.

Three refrigerated motor ships S. A. Langkloof, S. A. Zebediela, and S. A. Hexrivier were built to export temperature controlled fruit from South Africa to the UK and Europe. They were built in Dutch yards and entered service in early to mid 1960s. They were powered by an eight cylinder MAN K8Z70/120 low speed two stroke diesel engine developing approximately 9,600 BHP and a speed of For electrical power, four MAN diesel engines drove AC alternators. Three further ships, S. A. Letaba, S. A. Tzaneen and S. A. Drakenstein were built in Scotland, entering service in the mid 1960s. They had the same hull design as the Dutch built ships but used B&W engines at approximately 9,650 BHP.

The following three sister ships were the heavy lift vessels in the Safmarine fleet, also for carrying general cargo. S. A. Van Der Stel, S. A. Weltevreden, and S. A. Nederburg were all built by a Dutch company, and entered service in the mid 1960s. The S. A. Van Der Stel could lift 250 tons with her own derricks and the other two could lift 125 tons. They were all powered by a six cylinder MAN K6Z86/160 low speed two stroke diesel engine, developing approximately 14,000 BHP and a speed of 21 knots. For electrical power three MAN diesel engines drove AC alternators. These ships were modified in Japan in 1975/1976. An additional hold specially designed for containers approximately 100' long was added amidships. A new heavy lift derrick was added and loading points were added on deck for container mounting. A further sister ship, S. A. Vergelegen was commissioned in 1969; she had a 250 Stulken heavy lift and the number 3/4 and 5/6 holds had been extended. She was last known as the Virgil prior to being decommissioned after 1987. S. A. Nederburg was decommissioned in 1987 after leaving Durban harbour via Australia to the Far East to be dismantled.

These were the last of the dry cargo ships to be built in the 1960s for Safmarine. "S. A. Alphen" and "S. A. Huguenot" came into service in the mid 1960s, and later "S. A. Constantia", "S. A. Morgenster", and "S. A. Vergelegen" were built to the same design in Japan. S. A. Vergelegen was later modified in Germany with a Stulken derrick capable of lifting 250 tons. This class of vessel had the most pleasing lines of all the dry cargo ships built for the corporation. They were powered by a six cylinder Sulzer 6RND90 two stroke diesel engine developing 15,000 BHP giving them a speed of 21 knots. For electrical power two eight cylinder and two six cylinder MAN diesel engines drove AC alternators.