The series of this type of ship from the shipyard Charles Connell & Company in Scotstoun comprised three units that were put into service between 1965 and 1967. The concept of fast cargo ship that made with its high speed of 21.5 knots, a considerable shortening of the duration, the shipping company expected an improvement in the economy for the Far East - Service . The new ships allowed the travel time to East Asia to be reduced to 16.5 days until the Suez Canal was closed . Even during the construction period of the Benledi class, the change in long-distance liner traffic through the introduction of the container became clear. This led to the fact that only a short time later, the East Asian service was switched to container ships. Even before the Benalbanach was launched , the Ben Line had founded the container shipping company ACT with other shipping companies, which started its first container ships for the joint East Asian service in 1968. In contrast to other fast freighters also used in the Far East service, such as the Super-P's of the Blue Funnel Line , or the ships of the Friesenstein or Westfalia class , the three Ben-Line sister ships were not converted into semi-container ships. From 1974 onwards, Ben Line continued to focus on other business areas. The Benledi- class ships were sold en bloc to Italia Line in 1979 and had been abandoned or lost by 1988.
The ships
The first ship of the class was the Benledi, launched on February 9, 1965 with hull number 505 and delivered in June 1965 . In 1972 the ship was handed over to Italia Line and renamed Da Noli . After eight years, the ship was sold in 1980 and continued to operate under the Panamanian flag as Tina B. After another renaming, in 1982 in Bello and later in Tina , the ship was lost in August 1987.
It was not until June 19, 1966 that the second ship in the series was launched, the Ben Wyvis with hull number 509. In December 1966, she was handed over to the Ben Line. It was sold en bloc to the Italia Line in 1972 with its sister ships and continued to operate there as Da Recco . After a fire on board on June 4, 1979 in La Spezia , she was scrapped in the same place from November 1979.
The end of the class was the construction number 510 with the name Benalbanach . It was launched on April 12, 1967, handed over in the summer of 1967 and in 1972, after only five years in service in the Far East, it was sold by Ben Line to Italia Line, which continues to operate it as Da Verrazzano . After further sales, first to Liberia in 1980 as Rea B. , 1985 as Razorbill and 1987 as Bill , it was renamed Glint for the last time in 1988 and canceled in Alang on October 20, 1988 .
