IT WAS the end of an era last week when one of the famous Safmarine ‘Big Whites’, SA Helderberg, was handed back to her owners, Danaos, while at anchor off Singapore. The ship had completed a final voyage on charter for Safmarine, performed as part of the Safari (South Africa – Far E ast) service. Shortly after the handover the crew disembarked to head home for a period of leave – among the many seafarers who served on this fine ship over the past 30 years, first on the South Africa - E urope C ontainer Service (Saecs) and more recently the Safari service. SA H elderberg (48 878-dwt) was one of four sister ships introduced in 1977 by Safmarine for the then new container service between southern Africa and Europe. It was at the dawn of containerisation in South Africa, with new container terminals having recently opened at Durban, Port Elizabeth and C ape T own. The introduction of these and similar ships together with the terminals was about to revolutionise the local maritime industry as it was doing the world over. By coincidence the remaining three ‘Big Whites’ happened to be in Durban on the same day that H elderberg was handed over in Singapore. SA Sederberg and Maersk Constantia (the former SA Waterberg) were on berth at Durban C ontainer T erminal, with SA Winterberg at anchor outside. When introduced in 1977 the four ships, at 259m long and with a capacity for 2450- teus, were among the largest in the world. T oday they are considered mere dwarfs in terms of capacity, and their replacements on Saecs have double the capacity.
