The order for this type of reefer ship originally came from the German shipping company W. Bruns & Co. Hamburg. This company belonged to the Hamburg entrepreneur Willy F.A. Bruns (1904 - 1998) who operated in the international fruit trade, mainly with South and Central America. At the end of the 1970s, the reefer ships had become unprofitable for Bruns and he withdrew from the reefer shipping business. The construction contract, also for the sister ship BERNINA, was then bought by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group.
On 28.01.1980 the keel was laid at Stocznia Gdanska im. Lenina, Gdansk (Hull No. 360/01). The ship was originally to be named "Angara". The vessel was eventually launched on 04.06.1980 as ALBULA, the launching delay due to the ongoing political situation in Poland. The ship was christened by Mrs. Mercedes Noboa. In the summer of 1980 the trade union Solidarnosc (Solidarity) had been founded, led by the shipyard electrician Lech Walesa. This led to industrial action including numerous strikes and subsequently political change occurred in Poland and in 1990 Lech Walesa became President of the Republic.
Captain Johannsen visited the shipyard in May 1979 together with his new boss Rolf Greter to discuss the construction of the new refrigerated ships. They were received by a department head who spoke no English, but his jacket was richly decorated with about twenty medals. At that time Solidarnosc had not been established, but at the launching in June 1980 one could already feel the breath of the new era, the bust of Lenin had disappeared from the conference hall and a monument to Solidarnosc stood in front of the shipyard. For the launching, about 50 invited guests came to Gdansk on a Swissair plane.
The ALBULA was taken over in Gdansk by St. Gotthard Schiffahrts AG on 16.01.1981 and registered under the Swiss flag in Basel (Basilea) on 26.01.1981 (register No.: 113, call sign: HBDP). The next day on 27.01.1981 she sailed from Gdansk to Kiel, where she was delivered to the charterer Pacific Fruit Company (F. Noboa, Ecuador). The ship was managed by Suisse-Outremer Reederei AG, Zurich.
The crew compliment consisted of Swiss ratings and a mixture of Swiss and other Europeans as deck and engineer officers. There were also Ecuadorians on board, most of whom had sailed with Suisse-Outremer on the FAVORITA for some time and were therefore well known.
The accommodation was well furnished, all crew including mess boy, having individual cabins with on-suite bathrooms. There was even an ice cube machine so that the Cuba Libre could be enjoyed nicely chilled (the ship regularly sailed through the West Indian waters, home of the best rum in the world).
The ALBULA's main trading pattern was from Ecuador to Newark NJ and Savannah in the USA, occasionally also Northern Europe (Cork-Antwerp-Bremerhaven). From Ecuador, the reefer ship carried bananas to the USA or Europe and on the southbound voyage, general cargo was brought to Balboa and Guayaquil. The bananas were loaded in Guayaquil, Puerto Bolivar (Machala) and in Esmeraldas, but also in Golfito (Costa Rica) and Armuelles (Panama) on the Pacific side. On the Atlantic side, the freighter also called at Turbo (Colombia), Puerto Limon (Costa Rica) and Puerto Cortés, as well as Tela (Honduras). As the ALBULA was equipped with container shoes, she carried containers to the south and refrigerated containers with fishery products from Ecuador to the north. However, these containers had to be lashed by hand on deck and in the holds with chains, wires and turnbuckles.
The bananas were loaded on board by various methods, initially there was the famous “chicken ladder”, which was placed at the side doors and a procession of banana carriers carried the fruit on board. Later, they were loaded with a vertical conveyor belt or palletised with the ship's loading gear.
The ALBULA (and her sister ship BERNINA) were chartered for 21.0 knots and thus designed to maintain this speed at all times between docking intervals (max. speed 24.0 knots). The heavy fuel consumption of the main engine at full load was approximately 72.0 tons/day maximum.
On 16.12.1986, while entering the Van Cauwelaert lock in Antwerp (Frans Van Cauwelaert 1880 - 1961 was a Belgian psychologist and politician, as well as mayor of Antwerp for many years), the ship collided with the lock wall and suffered a crack in the ship's side of about 1 m in length. After discharging the remaining cargo in Bremerhaven the following day, repairs were carried out and on Christmas Day 24.12.1986 the ALBULA sailed for Savannah.
In 1988, the shipping company decided to sell both the ALBULA and BERNINA and in order to better facilitate this deal they were initially flagged out to Liberia. The ALBULA changed flag on 23.04.1988 in Newark NJ and the ownership was changed to Mascasi Shipping Inc. Monrovia (Official No: 8209, Call Sign: ELHU2). A further name change to BOLIVAR followed two months later on 24.06.1988.
The wages were paid in Swiss francs until 1986, but then they were converted to US dollars. With this change of flag to Liberia, the wages remained the same, but AVS / AHV (old-age and survivors insurance) and pension funds were no longer paid (thus no employer's contributions, but also no deductions from the wages). Suisse-Outremer always ensured that its ships sailed with the so-called "blue ticket", which was issued by the ITF in London through the mediation of the then VHTL union (sales, trade, transport and food workers) in Basel. These changes caused great dissatisfaction among some Swiss crewmembers, who resigned and were replaced by other nationalities.
On 09.02.1989 Suisse-Outremer sold / handed over the ALBULA on behalf of the owners in the port of Newark NJ to Greek buyers. A total of 121 voyages were made during the eight years with Suisse-Outremer, resulting in an average length of 24 days per voyage.
Skyleader Maritime Inc Monrovia bought the vessel for a published price of USD 12.0 million. The management was taken over by Enterprises Shipping & Trading SA Piraeus, a company of the Stamatis Restis Group, a Greek shipping family of Jewish descent. The ship kept its name but was given the flag of the Bahamas, home port Nassau (Official No.: 715434, call sign: C6HL2).
On 29.10.1995 in the port of Fernandina Beach, Florida (near Nassau Terminal) the ship is slightly damaged in a collision with the container ship ALABAMA. On 03.11.1995 the ship is able to sail to Chile, further details are unknown.
On 18.10.1997 during a voyage from Europe to Central America at a position of 57°49' N / 021°54' W a fire broke out in the engine room. The fire was extinguished the following day, 19.10.1997, with the chief engineer being seriously injured during the extinguishing work. Two days later the tug PORTOSALVO takes the stricken vessel under tow to Broad Bay, Isle of Lewis (west coast of Scotland). The ship is listing and there is more than 2 metres of water in the engine room. The ship was then towed to Gdynia, Poland, where she arrived on 4 November 1997. It was then decided that the damage should be repaired in Piraeus, Greece. The vessel left Gdynia on 19.11.1997 under tow of the tug POSEJDON arriving at Piraeus on 18.12.1997. The repairs lasted over three months until 03.04.1998.
Registered in George Town, British Cayman Islands in September 1998 (Official No.: 715434, Call sign: ZCMD).
On 21.05.2002 sold within the Restis-Group, Athens to Bernina Maritime Ltd (Management: Enterprises Shipping & Trading SA, Athens). The vessel remains under the flag of the Cayman Islands, but changes name to NAPOLI.
Sold in 2004 to Indian breakers for a reported 3.04 million USD, the NAPOLI arrived in Alang on 10.05.2004.
Additional information and Stories
A typical voyage from the USA to Ecuador and back:
Markus Berger, who sailed for a long time as a boatswain on ALBULA and BERNINA, remembers and describes a typical voyage (voyage 83, late July and August 1986):
The ALBULA and BERNINA had a three-week rotation between the USA and Ecuador. Friday night we left Port Newark for Savannah partially loaded with general cargo and containers (871nm). Sunday morning we arrived in Savannah, again to load general cargo and paper rolls for eventual use in lining in the banana boxes. We then left late afternoon or evening attempting to arrive at Miami before the cruise ships on Monday (383nm). At Miami we loaded more general cargo, trucks, cars and containers, setting sail in the late afternoon or evening, usually fully loaded.
The cargo had to be lashed, this proved especially difficult on a Sunday in Savannah, as the crew wanted to go sightseeing ashore. This work had to be finished after the ship left the port. It was rumoured that the ship's management had signed off, that the longshoremen had lashed everything ready for sea, which in fact they had not. From the money saved, the longshoremen and the ship's management each received a "dash" (this practice was used on many ships).
Upon arrival early on Thursday morning in Cristobal (Panama Canal Atlantic side), the removal of lashings took place, then unloading and loading to be ready for the Panama Canal passage in the evening. I could now take the opportunity to go ashore for a few hours during the day. In the evening and during the night we transited through the canal. During this transit period I had to stand watch on the forecastle until arrival at Balboa on the Pacific side on the Friday morning at 05/06:00. I managed to have a quick sleep for a couple of hours before breakfast, then assigned people to their work. The journey continued to Ecuador (852 nm). On some occasions we had cargo for Esmeraldas and Manta, but mostly only a few collies or then bulky goods.
Arriving at Guayaquil on Saturday afternoon, we discharged the remaining cargo and immediately loaded 40-foot refrigerated containers of shrimps on deck. If the bunker tanker was not alongside on arrival, it got tricky because of the stability of our empty ship. When the lower holds were clean, we cooled down and started rigging the gangways at the side gates for the banana carriers. Now began the loading of the bananas with a hundred or more carriers. Meanwhile, on the hatch covers and on deck, 20-foot containers were loaded, filled with coffee and other agricultural products.
On Sunday evening, we set sail again for nearby Puerto Bolivar (43 nm) to load more bananas. Depending on how quickly the bananas were delivered, we sailed on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning for the return voyage. Despite the work being undertaken, we still managed to visit the local bars and a visit to the girlfriend. This was the advantage of the liner trips, you knew the ports and the people and felt "at home".
Before the Panama Canal Passage, we quickly went to the town of Puerto Armuelles in Panama for one night to take the last bananas on board. Now off to Newark, where the ship was expected again on Wednesday or Thursday. When we arrived on Thursday morning, we had to take into account that the first mooring line was not thrown ashore until one minute after 06:00. This was because the dockworkers did the mooring and the charterer would have had to pay a considerable sum for overtime before 06:00 (a "good" union makes it possible).
Source: From office-log of Capt. Jörg Johannsen
Winter in the USA:
During the summer months, this trading area was usually a fair-weather voyage with pleasant or hot temperatures, but in the winter it involved an abrupt change to wintry, cold weather. When the ship sailed north along the American east coast, it left the beautiful, warm Gulf Stream at Cape Hatteras, which here mixed with the cold Labrador Current. The water and air temperatures dropped abruptly and one suddenly found oneself in the depths of winter. In stormy weather, the decks froze over from overcoming spray and breakers. In
Newark, temperatures sometimes reached - 20°C and snow lay on the deck.
In the harbour the deck had to be as free of snow and ice as much as possible to reduce the risk of accidents. Unfortunately, there were always claims from these fat dockworkers who actually, but mostly only allegedly, slipped and fell on the deck. In the USA, there are many lawyers who can exploit such cases perfectly and make money out of them. It was sometimes very difficult with these Americans.
Smuggling:
The line between Ecuador and the USA is considered a "hot line" that can be used, or better abused, to smuggle drugs to the USA and other goods to Ecuador. Customs and the DEA, Drug Enforcement Administration, therefore always kept a watchful eye on the ship when it arrived in Newark. The "black gang" (Customs search party) regularly came on board to search the ship and turn it upside down. However, in freezing cold weather, they preferred to watch pornographic films in the crew mess.
At sea, small bags of white powder were often found hidden under winch foundations, crane consoles and other suitable places by "amateur smugglers". The honest finders then threw the stuff overboard to please the fish. The professional smugglers already hid their stuff in the containers at that time.
In Newark, people like dockworkers and the like kept visiting us to propose "business". But you didn't know if they were real traders or undercover agents of the DEA. It is also doubtful whether the DEA people were all honest or not involved in "monkey business" themselves.
MB / HPS / JTA
Sources:
- Lloyd’s Register Publikations
- Marine News World Ship Society
- Ernst Preisig
- Markus Berger
- Capt. Jörg Johannsen
- Nick Bramley
SwissShips August 2023