The ship was built in Japan as the first vessel in a series of 8 identical bulk carriers for her Greek owners.
The NEPTUNIA was originally constructed as the THEODORE by NKK, Nippon Kokan Kabushiki Kaisha in their Tsurumi Shipyard in Yokohama, under the hull No. 802. The keel was laid in late 1964, the launching was in December 1964 and the delivery to the owners, Neptunia Inc., Monrovia was in February 1965. The THEODORE was registered under the Liberian flag with her home port being Monrovia (Lloyd's Register No.: 6506836, official No.: 2188, call sign: 6ZEK). The vessel was allocated for technical and commercial management to Metrofin Ltd., Zürich.
The gearless bulk carrier of Panamax size (maximum ship size to pass the locks of the Panama Canal) had a GRT of 27'959 and a NRT of 20'633 tons (Liberian tonnage). The vessel's dimensions were 226.40 m length overall, 31.20 m breadth moulded. The hull was divided into 7 cargo holds, served by 12 cargo hatches (all holds had 2 hatches, except hold No. 1 and No. 4, the cargo/ballast hold). The ship had a DWT of 57'357 metric tonnes on a summer draught of 12.26 m, which means about 1250 metric tonnes less in the average, then all the other, later built ships. One distinct feature were the side passages on the main deck, the other vessels had the accommodation extended out to the ship's side.
The propulsion of the THEODORE was by one slow-speed, two-stroke, crosshead diesel engine, Sulzer, type 8RD90 (cylinder diameter 900 mm), made under license by Uraga, Tamashima, Japan. The 8 cylinder, turbo charged engine had an output (maximum) of 17'600 BHP at 119 RPM and was direct coupled to one solid propeller, giving a speed of about 15.25 knots.
In 1974 the THEODORE was renamed to NEPTUNIA, but owners and managers remained the same. Also the registry, the official number and the call sign remained unchanged.
In the early days, the crew on board the seven Liberian flagged ships were from Pakistan, whereas the officers were from Western Europe, mainly from Germany. Some Swiss seamen, mainly engineers were also on board and officers and engineers from Yugoslavia (mainly Croatians), whereas many radio operators were from the U.K., Ireland or Poland. The masters were normally from Germany, but there was one Swiss captain and a few from Yugoslavia. The only exception from this system was the Greek flagged CHRISTITSA, which had always a Greek crew.
Some experiments with crews from Communist China were also done, but not very successful. In the seventies the Pakistani crews were replaced by crews from the Philippines, including 4th. and 3rd. assistant engineers.
As compared to today's standards, the accommodations were very modest, there was not even an air condition fitted, except for the crew and for the officer's mess rooms. The crew had single cabins, but had to use communal showers and toilettes. The senior officers were the only ones with the privilege of an own bathroom, the junior officers had to share one private bathroom between the two cabins. At the begin there was a cook for the European officers and one for the Asian crew, but later this system was abandoned and the cooking was more or less for all the same (of course the Philippinos always got their rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, same as the Germans got their boiled potatoes).
In late 1985 the NEPTUNIA was sold for demolition to Chinese breakers. She sailed from Kobe, Japan for her last voyage and arrived in Shanghai on 31.10.1985 for demolition.