The Container Enterprise and its sister ship Container Venturer were among the first container ships planned and built as such in the world and were the very first of their kind in Great Britain. However, they were not built for the transport of ISO containers , but for contemporary British railroad containers.
The two container ships were built in 1957/58 by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company in Troon , on behalf of the British Transport Commission London Midland Region Lancaster. After their handover in April and October 1958, they opened a British Railways container service between Heysham and Belfast . In 1971 the Container Enterprise switched to the route between Fishguard and Waterford, and from 1976 the Container Venturer was also used on this connection. Both ships remained in the ownership of the client until 1979, when they were transferred to Sealink and in the same year passed on to the Compania de Navegacion Isacar shipping company in Panama. The former Container Enterprise was finally sunk on June 13, 2003 as Isamar at the position 26 ° 9 ′ 18 ″ N , 79 ° 44 ′ 18 ″ W Coordinates: 26 ° 9 ′ 18 ″ N , 79 ° 44 ′ 18 ″ W , after in the roads of Miami abandoniert was. The original Container Venturer remained in motion until 2012 under changing names, most recently as Master Trader .
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technology
A British Railways container on display in the museum
The design of the ships was based on experiences with the few container ships still in service at the time and the requirements of the planned short-haul service. Superstructures and machinery were arranged aft. The propulsion of the ship consisted of an eight-cylinder two-stroke diesel engine from the Glasgow manufacturer British Polar.
The ships did not have their own loading gear . The up to 65 British Railways railway containers carried were stowed in one layer in the hold and one layer on deck. On both sides of the ship holding scaffolds were, like simplified cell guides worked and load securing served. The production of containers of this size began before the Second World War and was discontinued in the same year that the two ships were put into service, but use continued into the 1970s.
The ships
Container Enterprise / Container Venturer
Building name
Build number
IMO number
delivery
Client
Later names and whereabouts
Container Enterprise
500
5079018
April 1958
British Transport Commission
1979 to Sealink and sold Isacar I , 1988 Sea Container , 1991 Isamar , 1998 Freedom Express , sunk as an artificial reef on June 13, 2003
Container venturer
501
5079020
October 1958
British Transport Commission
1979 to Sealink and sold, 1988 Trupial , 1991 Sea Mist , 2000 Scorpio I , 2000 Jeanny Cay II , 2004 Sunshine One , 2008 Master Trader
