its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . april 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message safmarine type subsidiary industry container shipping founded 1946 headquarters copenhagen denmark area served worldwide key people david williams ceo owner a.p. moller maersk group . website www.safmarine.com safmarine safmarine container lines n.v. is an international shipping business offering container and break bulk shipping services worldwide . formed in 1946 by south african industrialists and american ship owners safmarine is now widely known as a north south trade and african specialist . the line is represented in more than 130 countries throughout the world with more than 1200 sailors selling their services . safmarine has been headquartered and registered in antwerp belgium since 1996 when it completed its acquisition of the belgian container line cmbt which in turn had been an outgrowth of cmb . in 1999 safmarine was bought by the danish company a.p. moller maersk group and maersk chose to retain the safmarine brand rather than integrating it wholly into maersk sealand . in 2002 safmarine acquired torm lines . on october 3 2011 it was decided that safmarine would integrate its internal support and management functions into those of its sister company maersk line . 1 contents 1 passenger services 2 cargo ships of the 1960s 2.1 victory class 2.2 global class 2.3 s class 2.4 refrigerated motor ships 2.5 heavy lift ships 2.6 alphen class 3 container ships 4 references 4.1 notes 4.2 bibliography 5 external links passenger services edit safmarine operated a passenger liner service between the united kingdom and south africa in 1965 77 and again in 1984 85 . 2 3 safmarine passenger operations had begun in 1965 when two union castle line ships used on the southampton durban service rms transvaal castle and rms pretoria castle were transferred to safmarine to satisfy demands from the south african government . the ships were renamed s. a. vaal and s. a. oranje respectively re painted in safmarine colours but continued on the same service as before . in 1969 both vessels were transferred from british to south african registry . during the 1970s the south african liner trade started to decline mainly due to competition from the jet airplane and the rising success of the revolutionary new container ships in carrying cargoes more efficiently and more economically than conventional older vessels . thus in 1975 the s. a. oranje and her union castle sister rms edinburgh castle were withdrawn and sold for scrapping . rms pendennis castle was also withdrawn in june 1976 leaving s. a. vaal to remain with union castle s rms windsor castle and the two smaller cargo passenger mailships rmmv good hope castle and rmmv southampton castle . in october 1977 both companies withdrew their passenger services and s. a. vaal was sold to carnival cruise lines becoming their ss festivale . 2 in 1984 safmarine purchased the cruise ship ms astor from the west german hadag cruise lines . following refit she was used to revive the southampton cape town service also making cruises out of south africa and the united kingdom between liner voyages . 2 however in service the astor was found not to have enough speed to maintain the liner schedule 4 and safmarine decided to order a replacement ship based on the same design from howaldtswerke deutsche werft in kiel also to be named ms astor . 2 in preparation for the delivery of the new ship the first astor was sold to the east german deutsche seerederei via a west german intermediary becoming ms arkona . 2 4 ultimately the second astor never entered service for safmarine as the company decided to abandon the liner service in 1986 . the second astor still under construction at the time was sold to marlan corporation in january 1986 . 5 6 cargo ships of the 1960s edit victory class edit safmarine purchased three victory ships ss westbrook victory 7 ss westerly victory 7 ss new bern victory 8 from the usa and after modifications to convert them from war use to general dry cargo they entered service in 1947 . they were named vergelegen morgenster and constantia . these three ships enabled safmarine to start a south africa based cargo enterprise . in 1961 their names were changed to south african victory south african venture and south african vanguard . in 1966 the prefix south african on all safmarine s ships was changed to s.a. in the engine rooms there were two babcock & wilcox water tube boilers supplying superheated steam to two westinghouse turbines geared down to a single shaft giving 6 000 shp and a speed of 16 knots 30 km h ; 18 mph . for electrical power two steam turbines drove dc generators . global class edit the next four sister ships to be brought into service were south african trader south african pioneer south african transporter and south african merchant . they were designed for carrying general dry cargo and had berths for twelve passengers . all were built in scotland and entered service in the mid 1950s . each ship had were two yarrow water tube boilers and two parson type turbines geared down to a single shaft giving approximately 7 000 shp and a speed of 15 knots 28 km h ; 17 mph . for electrical power three ruston hornsby diesel engines drove dc generators . s class edit in 1961 south african statesman south african seafarer and south african shipper joined the fleet . they were designed for carrying general dry cargo and were built in scotland in the 1950s for the clan line then the springbok shipping co. these ships had a distinctive cowl top on the funnel and were fitted with babcock & wilcox water tube boilers and three parson type turbines geared down to a single shaft giving approximately 10 000shp and a speed of 17 knots 31 km h ; 20 mph . electrical power came from generators driven by three ruston hornsby diesel engines . refrigerated motor ships edit three refrigerated motor ships s.a. langkloof s.a. zebediela and s.a. hexrivier were built to export frozen fruit from south africa to the uk and europe . they were built in dutch yards and entered service in early to mid 1960s . they were powered by an eight cylinder man k8z70 120 low speed two stroke diesel engine developing approximately 9 600 bhp and a speed of 17 knots 31 km h ; 20 mph . for electrical power four man diesel engines drove ac alternators . three further ships s.a. letaba s.a. tzaneen and s.a. drakenstein were built in scotland entering service in the mid 1960s . they had the same hull design as the dutch built ships but used b & w engines at approximately 9 650 bhp . heavy lift ships edit the following three sister ships were the heavy lift vessels in the safmarine fleet also for carrying general cargo . the s.a.van der stel s.a. weltevreden and the s.a. nederburg . were all built by a dutch company and entered service in the mid 1960s . the s.a. van der stel could lift 250 tons with her own derricks and the other two could lift 125 tons . they were all powered by a six cylinder m.a.n k6z86 160 low speed two stroke diesel engine developing approximately 14 000 bhp and a speed of 21 knots . for electrical power three m.a.n diesel engines drove ac alternators . these ships were modified in japan in 1975 1976 . an additional hold specially designed for containers approximately 100 long was added amidships . a new heavy lift derrick was added and loading points were added on deck for container mounting . s.a.s vergelegen was commissioned in 1969 had a 250 stulken heavy lift and the number 3 4 & 5 6 holds had been extended . she was last known as the virgil prior to being decommissioned after 1987 . interesting to see that no mention has been made that this and her sister ships were actually navigation training vessels for the sa navy . s.a.s nederburg was decommissioned in 1987 after leaving durban harbour via australia to the far east to be dismantled . alphen class edit these were the last of the dry cargo ships to be built in the 1960s for safmarine . . the s.a. alphen and s.a. huguenot came into service in the mid 1960s and later the s.a. constantia s.a. morgenster and the s.a. vergelegen were built of the same design in japan . s.a. vergelegen was later modified in germany with a stulken derrick capable of lifting 250 tons . this class of vessel had the most pleasing lines of all the dry cargo ships built for the corporation . they were powered by a six cylinder sulzer 6rnd90 two stroke diesel engine developing 15 000 bhp giving them a speed of 21 knots . for electrical power two eight cylinder and two six cylinder m.a.n diesel engines drove ac alternators . citation needed container ships edit safmarine had eight of its newest dry cargo ships lengthened to carry a small number of containers . now was the time for safmarine to get into the container business which was starting to change the way that cargo was transported all round the world . an order was placed with french ship building yards to build four large container ships with all the latest designs & technology that was available at that time . they were all completed between 1977 & 1978 . they were named s.a. helderberg s.a. sederberg s.a.waterberg & s.a. winterberg . these ships were fitted with two large diesel engines ; two bow thrusters ; stabilisers & full air conditioning which included the engine control room . there was also luxury accommodation for ten passengers . early in their service they were affectionately called the big whites because of their large size and gleaming white hulls that reflected the african sun on their regular calls to south african ports . their specifications were as follows two sulzer eight cylinder two stroke diesel engines type 8rnd 90m maximum power 49600 bhp . length 258.5 metres breath 32.3 metres approx . 52 615 dwt number of containers 2450 teu later increased to 2500 teu . number of reefer containers 892 teu later increased to 1100 teu . cruising speed 19.5 knots . fuel consumption per 24 hours 153 tons . when they were built they had crepelle v16 diesel generators which ran on diesel fuel fitted which proved to be very unreliable . they were later replaced with 6 cylinder wartsila engines that ran on heavy fuel oil bunker c the same as the main engines . the main engines were adapted with a large generator so that when running at cruising speed these generators produced a large amount of electrical energy which made these ships more fuel efficient . safmarine was bought out by maersk in 1999 . present safmarine ships under maersk include the n class vessels safmarine nile nuba nakuru etc k class vessels m class vessels and c class vessels . references edit notes edit http www.prezencenewmedia.com safmarine info detailed index.php assetid 1626 a b c d e miller william h 1986 . the last blue water liners . london conway . pp. 57 58 198 199 . isbn 0 85177 400 8 . miller william h 1995 . pictorial encyclopedia of ocean liners 1860 1994 . mineola dover . p. 10 . isbn 0 486 28137 x. a b boyle ian . astoria . simplon postcards . retrieved 2008 11 01 . boyle ian . fedor dostoevskiy astor 2 . simplon postcards . retrieved 2008 11 01 . asklander micke . m s astor 1987 . fakta om fartyg in swedish . archived from the