The Reijin was built in 1987 by the Shin Kurushima Dockyard Company in Onishi under construction number 2535 and launched on December 19, 1987. The takeover took place in the spring of 1988. On her maiden voyage from Japan to Scotland , she ran aground off Oporto on April 26, 1988 with 5432 new cars loaded and capsized shortly afterwards. One crew member was killed.
Initially, it was planned to sink two thirds of the vehicles on board off the coast in 2,000 meters deep water. The rest of the vehicles should have been sunk with the ship itself. However, since the plastics contained in the vehicles were feared that they would cause environmental pollution and the London Convention was violated, the campaign was not carried out to the end. The vehicles that were not sunk in the sea were scrapped on land, but the ship itself was also towed into deeper waters and sunk there.
The Reijin was the first and so far only car transporter that was lost on its maiden voyage.
