Oldendorff Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 192
LUDOLF (1)
1952-1970
A number of second-hand ships of
up to 10,000 tdw, popular in those
days still unaffected by overage
problems and ditto insurance (the
latter came into being in the late
Sixties) earned the funds for
modern newbuildings. The mv
LUDOLF OLDENDORFF (2) of 4,650
tdw, delivered to Egon Oldendorff
by Lübecker MaschinenbauGesellschaft on 2 December 1952,
and her sistership DORA
OLDENDORFF (2), delivered two
years thereafter, had been designed
as multi-purpose liner vessels and
had a comparatively generous cubic
capacity of 270,000 cu ft each.
They spent most of their time in the
Oldendorff fleet timechartered to
liner operators, often on period
charters, but they also accepted
voyage charters. Both ships
frequently went up the St. Lawrence
Seaway after it had been re-opened
in 1959, and further into the Great
Lakes. Between 1960 and 1964
DORA OLDENDORFF performed no
fewer than 33 trips into the Great
Lakes on timecharter to Canadian
transport operators, Canadian
Pacific, and up to 1967 LUDOLF
OLDENDORFF completed 27 Great
Lakes trips for the same charterers.
Not only would the ships carry the
CP funnel mark but at times their
hulls would be painted CP white
which made their appearance quite
unique in the Oldendorff fleet.
Linking Lakes Superior, Michigan,
Huron, and Erie with the Atlantic
Ocean via the St. Lawrence River,
the Seaway affords direct access
by deepsea vessels to important
North American industrial centres
188
averaging a height above sea level
of 185.3 metres. Just under 150,000
vessels passed the locks in the period
1959 to 1984, but so far as general
cargo is concerned the Seaway has
gradually lost its former importance
due to the impact of intermodal
transport which has meanwhile
conquered nearly 100% of that trade.
However, in the heydays of that
international waterway Oldendorff
freighters were counted among its
frequent users.
The degree of technical innovation
is reflected by an article in the
Lübecker Nachrichten daily of 13
December 1952 reporting on the
commissioning of the mv LUDOLF
OLDENDORFF: “When LMG shipyard
director Schiml handed over, outside
territorial waters, the newbuilding
to her owner, the Lübeck shipping
