Cargo ships from Hong Kong to Australia in 1981

[Michael Gabout]

Hi there,

Is there anyone here who would know about ships sailing from Hong Kong to Australia in the second half of 1981?

I was told that most vessels used to go to Western Australia (especially Fremantle), but were there others going to other territories (Darwin, Brisbane and so on) ?

Waiting for your replies,

Cheers,

Michael

[Ivan Cloherty]

Hi there,
Is there anyone here who would know about ships sailing from Hong Kong to Australia in the second half of 1981?
I was told that most vessels used to go to Western Australia (especially Fremantle), but were there others going to other territories (Darwin, Brisbane and so on) ?
Waiting for your replies,
Cheers,
Michael

Do you want first hand experiences or just general information, if the latter then some info should be on Google/Wikepdia, but the information on the latter treat with a pinch of salt, there are many inaccuracies in relation to the MN. Researching Lloyds List or Journal of Commerce archives may be able to help you for that era

[Michael Gabout]

Hi Ivan,

I would prefer first hand reports. I would love to hear from people who actually know which ships have taken this route or who have undertaken these trips themselves.
Googling and wikipeding and Lloyding didn 't bring me much results actually. Besides, I like to hear about anecdotes.

Michael

[Ivan Cloherty]

Well didn't do it in the 80's, but did in the 50's and 60's and also Sri Lanka -Fremantle and other ports in 70's, anecdotes are in my many postings, but about 8000 posts went walkabout a couple of years ago. Wouldn't call the run exciting, but interesting as a navigator. Many on here have more experience of those passages.

[john walker]

Do you mean ships loading part or full cargoes in Hong Kong to Oz (Liner Trades) on a regular trading pattern ?? Or an occasional cargo to Oz from Hong Kong ?? Probably the 2 Hong Kong shipping companies at the time that still had trade routes to Oz and the south pacific Islands were China Navigation (Swire Shipping) and the Indo China Steam Navigation Company (Jardine Matheson & Co.) 2 of the oldest companies in Hong Kong. Both are still trading and the first is still heavily involved both as an owner and charterer of ships today. They had both began to wind down their maritime interests by the 80's and were starting to scrap there older tonnage at the time but were still trading in that part of the world. There are various links on this site to both companies just put the various names in the search engine and see if you can find anything relevant to your needs. Both companies also have extensive official web pages and there are various sites on line run by ex seafaring employees. For Swire try Wiki Swire and see if you can contact anybody on the site for info. Once again good luck with your search and let us know how you get on ?? Cheers J.W.

[Michael Gabout]

Do you remember the routes taken from Hong Kong, the ports you stopped at and your arrival city? If you have some anecdotes about the crew, the scenery, the weather or something else, I'm all ears...

[Michael Gabout]

Dear John,
To answer your first question, it could be anything actually...
Thanks for telling me the names of those two HK companies and the wiki. I'll check on that ASAP.

[john walker]

Hi Michael # 3 if you look at the wiki swire link you will find find a ship category link that lists all of the company's ships a lot of the earlier ships listed have the trading routes they normally sailed. Unfortunately there are a heck of a lot of vessels. There is an excellent historical site called Gwulo: Old Hong Kong which has a lot of ex-pat members and quite a few are ex seafarers/shipping company employees It might be worth your while posting on that site, or using the site search engine to see if there is anything of interest Cheers J.W.

[Michael Gabout]

Hi John,

Thanks for the tips. There are 371 ships listed... I hope I'll find what I'm looking for before the end...
I'll visit the Gwulo website as well...

Michael

[john walker]

Hi John,

Thanks for the tips. There are 371 ships listed... I hope I'll find what I'm looking for before the end...
I'll visit the Gwulo website as well...

Michael

Why not try the lazy route and visit Gwulo first