TEV Rangatira — BrandWiki

TEV Rangatira

Overview

*Rangatira (1972–1986) *Queen M (1986–1990)‡R1R‡ *Carlo R (1990–2001)‡R1R‡ *Alexander the Great (2001–2005)‡R2R‡

namesake	(1972–1986): Māori for "chief, wellborn, noble" *(2001–2005) Alexander the Great
owner	Union Steam Ship Company (U.K.) Ltd, London(1972–1986)‡R1R‡ Searoyal Ferries (1986–1990)‡R1R‡ Rodriquez Group/Alimar (1990–2001)‡R1R‡ Oberon Cruise Line (2001–2005)‡R2R‡
operator	Union Steam Ship Co of NZ (1972–1976)‡R1R‡ Marlines Ferries (1986–1990) COTUNAV (1990–92)‡R1R‡ Alimar (1993)‡R1R‡ *Horizon Sea Lines (1994)‡R1R‡
registry	* London (1972–1986)‡R1R‡ 🇨🇾 Limassol (1986–1988)‡R1R‡ 🇵🇦 (1988–1989)‡R1R‡ *🇲🇹 Valletta (1989–2005)‡R1R‡
route	Wellington – Lyttelton (1972–1976)‡R1R‡ Tunis – Genoa/Marseille (1990–1993)‡R1R‡ *Ancona – Çeşme (1994)‡R1R‡
ordered	15 May 1969‡R1R‡
builder	Swan Hunter,‡R1R‡‡R2R‡‡R3R‡ Wallsend, England
yard number	33‡R2R‡
laid down	2 April 1970‡R3R‡
launched	23 June 1971‡R1R‡‡R3R‡
completed	1971
maiden voyage	28 March 1972‡R1R‡
in service	28 March 1972‡R1R‡
out of service	16 August 1995‡R1R‡
homeport	Wellington (1972–1976)
identification	‡R1R‡
fate	Scrapped in 2005.

TEV Rangatira was a roll-on/roll-off vehicle and passenger ferry launched in 1971 for the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand.[1] She was the world's last surviving passenger ship with steam-powered turbo-electric transmission.[1] (Modern turbo-electric ships, including RMS Queen Mary 2 and Millennium-class cruise ships such as Celebrity Millennium, have gas turbines.)

Rangatira had a varied existence, including serving as an accommodation ship and barracks ship between 1977 and 1983. The Union Company sold her in 1986 and she returned to being a ferry. From 1986 onwards, she passed through a succession of owners who renamed her three times and registered her under three different flags of convenience: as Queen M in 1986,[1][3] Carlo R in 1990[1]

New Zealand ferry

The new Rangatira was to work the 200 nmi "Steamer Express" route between Wellington on the North Island and Lyttelton on the South Island, replacing the TEV Wahine that had been wrecked in Cyclone Giselle in 1968.[1] On 28 March 1972 she made her first voyage from Wellington across Cook Strait and along the South Island east coast to Lyttelton.[1][3] On this first trip she carried a full complement of 768 passengers.[3]

As soon as the new Rangatira was in service, the TEV Maori was withdrawn and work began to strip her of equipment.[3] However, on 18 September Rangatira developed a serious fault with her port turbine, reached Wellington at reduced speed two and a half hours late[3] and had to be taken out of service for repairs.[1][3] The Maori was quickly re-equipped and on 20 September was returned to service until Rangatira's repairs were complete and she able to resume duty on 16 October.[1][3]

On 19 June 1973 Rangatira damaged her port rudder and propeller while berthing at Lyttelton.[3] She was taken out of service for repairs, drydocked at Wellington on 20 June and returned to service on 2 July.[3]

On 30 October 1973 Rangatira was en route from Lyttelton to Wellington when her starboard turbine suffered damage to a thrust bearing and a rotor.[3] She reached Wellington over two hours late but was repaired and returned to service on 2 November.[3]

Financial losses, subsidy and withdrawal

For almost a decade the Steamer Express route had lost traffic between the North and South islands to its competitors. In 1962 New Zealand Railways had introduced its Cook Strait rail ferries on the 55 nmi route between Wellington and Picton, offering a much shorter sea crossing for freight and cars. Domestic aviation between the two islands was also expanding and becoming more affordable, especially after the National Airways Corporation (now part of Air New Zealand) introduced Boeing 737-200 aircraft in 1968.

Before the loss of the Wahine in 1968, the Maori and the Wahine were used to provide a regular two-ship overnight service between Wellington and Lyttelton with one ship departing from each port every night and arriving early the next day at the other port. Following the loss of the Wahine, the Maori, and after 1972 the Rangatira, provided a single ship service with a night crossing in one direction followed by a day crossing in the opposite direction. The day crossings proved to be very unpopular with passengers and the less frequent and irregular service was unpopular with both passengers and freight shippers. The perception created by the loss of the Wahine that the Lyttelton to Wellington ferry service was a less safe option hastened the decline of passenger numbers.

Rangatira's long route and the high fuel consumption of her turbo-electric propulsion made her uncompetitive from the start. Running her on the Steamer Express resulted in substantial losses, which by 1974 were at a rate of NZ$4 million a year.[1]

Mediterranean ferry

In 1986 Rangatira was sold to Searoyal Ferries, which was founded by Panayotis J Marangopoulos of Greece.[1][3] She was overhauled and then on 3 November 1986 the platform supply vessel Vigen Supplier towed her out of Falmouth.[1][3] Searoyal renamed her Queen M and registered her in Limassol under the Cypriot flag of convenience.[1][3] She was operated by a Searoyal subsidiary, Marlines Ferries.[1][3] However, after only a few months Marlines laid her up at Piraeus in Greece from 8 September 1987.[1][3] On 9 March 1988 while still laid up she suffered slight damage when the cement carrier Victory V collided with her.[1]

Queen M's route was across the Adriatic Sea between Ancona in Italy and Patras on the Peloponnese via Igoumenitsa in Epirus.[1] She worked this route for the three years 1987–89,[1] apparently only in the busy tourist months of each year. In 1988 Searoyal re-registered Queen M in Panama, another flag of convenience.[3] In 1990 the company announced that it would extend her route to Turkey, but instead it sold her.[1]

The ship was bought by the Rodriquez Group of Messina in Sicily.[1] She was renamed Carlo R and registered in Valletta under the Maltese flag of convenience.[1] Rodriquez Group's ferry-operating subsidiary Alimar chartered her to the Tunisian state-owned Compagnie Tunisienne de Navigation (CTN or COTUNAV) for the summers of 1990, 1991 and 1992, with whom she worked the Tunis – Genoa and Tunis – Marseille ferry routes.[1] COTUNAV did not renew her charter for the 1993 season, so Alimar ran her between Tunis and Italy.[1] In 1994 Alimar chartered Queen M to Horizon Sea Lines of Greece who ran her between Ancona and Çeşme on the Aegean coast of Turkey.[1]

In 1995 Egnatia Line planned to charter Carlo R for a route across the Tyrrhenian Sea linking Trapani in Sicily with Livorno and Naples.[1] However, Rodriquez Group was now in financial difficulties so Egnatia Line did not proceed with the charter.[1] Instead from June 1995[3] she made a few Adriatic crossings between Bari and Patras[1] or Igoumenitsa.[3] On 16 August 1995 arrived in Naples for repairs,[3] after which she remained there laid up.[1][3]

By 2000 Rodriquez Group was bankrupt and a Neapolitan court had seized the ship for the company's debts.[1] The court had her surveyed, and the marine surveyor valued her at about NZ$2.5 million.[1] In August 2001 she was still laid up at Naples[1] but in October she was sold by auction.[3]