MS ''Ruahine'' was a passenger ship that operated in the mid-20th century, primarily for the

New Zealand Shipping Company The New Zealand Shipping Company (NZSC) was a shipping company whose ships ran passenger and cargo services between Great Britain and New Zealand between 1873 and 1973. A group of Christchurch businessmen founded the company in 1873, similar ...

. Built by

John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and the ''Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its height, from 1900 to the 1950s, it was one of ...

for the

, she was launched on 11 December 1950 and entered service in May 1951. She operated in combined passenger and cargo trade from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

and

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, arriving in New Zealand in November 1951. At the end of 1966, she was transferred to the fleet of New Zealand Shipping subsidiary Federal Line, but operated under the British flag for only one more year, making her final New Zealand voyage in late 1967. She was subsequently sold to the Orient Overseas Line and renamed ''Oriental Rio'', sailing under the Hong Kong flag until she was scrapped in 1974.OOCL Marks Half a Century of Operations ''

Ships Monthly Kelsey Media is a magazine publisher and trade fair company based in Yalding, England. Founded in 1989, it has bought and sold many publications over the years, including former Bauer Media Group magazines ''Sea Angler'', ''Car Mechanics'' and ...

'' February 2019 page 8 ''Ruahine'' measured 17,851 gross register tons, and was long, with a beam of . She was powered by Doxford diesel engines driving two screws, which gave her a service speed of . She had a passenger capacity of 267 in a single-class configuration.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruahine 1950 ships Ships of the New Zealand Shipping Company Passenger ships of the United Kingdom Ships of Hong Kong