A VOYAGE ON VERDI

In the immediate postwar years Italy’s Lloyd Triestino placed orders for seven similar-sized passenger-cargo liners for its services to Africa, Asia and Australia, with all the vessels completed during 1950 and 1951. The first to be delivered was the 12,839gt Australia for the company’s Australian route, followed later by sisters Oceania and Neptunia. These vessels were handsome motorships built by Italy’s Cantieri Reuniti dell’Adriatico and powered by twin 14,000bhp Sulzer diesels driving two screws to give a speed of 18 knots.

Passenger accommodation was provided for 280 in First class, 120 in Second and 392 in Third, the latter in large dormitories on the lower decks. Cargo was carried in five holds trunked through the passenger spaces, three forward and two aft, all served by traditional masts and booms. The white-hulled ships were well received in the antipodes trade and, during their early years, provided a regular service between the Italian ports of Genoa, Naples and Messina to Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney via the Suez Canal, with calls at Colombo and Djakarta southbound