GMV Aramoana
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
| {{Infobox ship begin |display title=GMV Aramoana}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Aramoana leaves Wellington for Picton, 1965 (36433511405).jpg |Ship caption=GMV Aramoana in Wellington Harbour, 1965 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship name=Aramoana |Ship namesake={{langx|mi|Sea Pathway}} |Ship flag= {{shipboxflag|NZL}} |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route=Wellington - Picton |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton |Ship original cost=$NZ 4 million |Ship yard number=1502 |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=24 November 1961 |Ship completed=1961 |Ship christened= |Ship acquired= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service=13 August 1962 |Ship out of service= |Ship identification={{IMO Number|5021671}} |Ship fate=*Laid up 1983, sold 1984
|Ship notes=}} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship tonnage={{GRT|4,160}} |Ship displacement= |Ship length={{convert|112.2|m|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|18.6|m|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught={{convert|4.73|m|ft|abbr=on}} |Ship draft= |Ship depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps= |Ship power=6 × English Electric 16CSVM diesel engine |Ship propulsion= 4 x electric drive motors, 2 per shaft{{cite book|last1=Stott|first1=Bob|title=The Cook Strait Ferry Story|date=1981|publisher=Southern Press|isbn=0908616015|page=44}} |Ship speed={{convert|19|kn|mph|0}} |Ship capacity=*788 passengers
|Ship crew=90 |Ship notes=}} |
GMV Aramoana (a Māori-language word meaning sea pathway) was a roll-on/roll-off train ferry operating across Cook Strait between 1962 and 1983.
History
Government Motor Vessel (GMV) Aramoana was built in 1961 for the New Zealand Railways Department to link the North and South Island rail networks.Rail-Road Ferry Vessel MV Aramoana Railway Gazette 12 January 1962 pages 45-48Inter-Island Ferry Will Link Islated Rail Systems Railway Transportation May 1962 pages 26-28 She was the last vessel built by William Denny & Brothers, Dumbarton, on the River Clyde.{{cite web |url= http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/aramoana.htm |title=MV Aramoana |publisher=New Zealand Maritime Index |accessdate=21 August 2011}} She arrived from Scotland on 26 July 1962 and entered service on 13 August.Ferry ship service Railway Gazette 31 August 1962 page 245NZR Rail/Road Ferry Placed in Service Railway Transportation September 1962 page 4 In 1965, she was joined by the similar, but slightly larger, {{ship|GMV|Aranui||2}}.
Layout
A combined vehicle deck could carry 70 cars and 30 rail wagons on three tracks.New Zealand Rail Ferry Network December 1964 page 2New Zealand's Rail Ferry Australian Transport January 1965 page 35
Service
Aramoana was built to provide a railway service between the North and South Islands of New Zealand, later known as the Interislander. Initially she provided one round trip per day (except Sunday).{{cite web |url= http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/cook-strait-rail-ferries/floating-bridge |title=The floating bridge - Cook Strait ferries |publisher=New Zealand History Online |accessdate=21 August 2011}} In her first year of service she carried 207,000 passengers, 46,000 cars and 181,000 tonnes of cargo. This was substantially more than its predecessor, the Union Steam Ship Company's ferry Tamahine, which had carried 60,000 passengers, 11,000 cars and 14,000 tonnes of cargo in the final year of service.{{cite web |url= http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/cook-strait-ferries |title=Cook Strait Rail Ferries |publisher=New Zealand History Online |accessdate=21 August 2011}}
In 1965, she was joined by the similar, but slightly larger, {{ship|GMV|Aranui||2}}.
On 10 April 1968 Aramoana was the largest of the rescue vessels when {{ship|TEV|Wahine}}, a New Zealand inter-island ferry of the Union Company, foundered after striking Barrett Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.{{cite web |last=Robinson |first=Murray |title=The Wahine |url=http://www.thewahine.co.nz/Questions.html |accessdate=26 February 2012}}{{cite web |last=Castell |first=Marcus |date=2003–2007 |title=The Turbo Electric Vessel WAHINE, 1966-1968 |url=http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/wahine.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418051803/http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/wahine.htm |archive-date=18 April 2012 |accessdate=22 May 2013 |publisher=The New Zealand Maritime Record}} Aramoana{{'}}s two motor lifeboats were lost in the very heavy seas.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}
In July 1977 Aramoana left Wellington to be rebuilt by Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore to carry 800 passengers to meet the increased traffic, following the withdrawal in 1976 of the Union Company's Wellington to Lyttelton service.Aramoana departs Rails September 1977 page 19{{cite web |title=New Zealand's Cook Strait Rail Ferries |url=http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/railferries.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727192412/http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/railferries.htm |archive-date=27 July 2009 |accessdate=26 February 2012 |publisher=NZ National Maritime Museum}} It re-entered service in December 1977.Rail Ferry Refit Network January 1978 page 27New look for Aramoana Rails March 1978 page 16
In 1983, both Aramoana and Aranui were replaced by the significantly larger DEV Arahura and were sold to the Najd Trading & Construction Company of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1984.Aramoana up for sale Rails March 1984 page 179Pioneer ferries sold overseas Rails January 1985 page 144 Aramoana was renamed Captain Nicolas V, and renamed Najd II the following year.
In 1985 she carried Muslim pilgrims on the Red Sea.
On 16 July 1992, the Najd II, took on board 240 Chinese illegal immigrants from a beach at Thailand destined for the USA. Sailing east instead the shorter western route they limped to the coast of Africa before finally stopping at Mombasa, Kenya, in September 1992. By then the ship was in too poor a condition to continue and the immigrants eventually were transferred to a second smuggling vessel, the Golden Venture which beached near New York on 6 June 1993.The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden Keefe
Aramoana was laid up at the United Arab Emirates port of Ajman in 1993. In 1994 she left Ajman towed by a tug and was broken up on Alang beach on the western shore of the Gulf of Khambhat in India.
References
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{{New Zealand inter-island ferries}}
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