Yard number 113 Length 49 m Builder Wilhelmshaven | Completed 1968 Range 16.668 million m | |
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Name 1968-1998 Konrad Meisel
1998-2010 Isibane
from 2010 Claymore II Owner 1968-1998 Federal Republic of Germany
1998-2004 Republic of South Africa
2004-2010 Zonnekus Mansion Pty Ltd, Milnerton, South Africa
from 2010 Stoney Creek Shipping Co Ltd, Palmerston North, New Zealand Port of registry 1968-1990 Hamburg, West Germany
1990-1998 Hamburg, Germany
c2000-2004 South Africa
2004-2010 Panama
from 2010 Tauranga, New Zealand Identification IMO number 6815691
from 2010 MNZ# 133693
MMSI number 512150000
Call sign ZMG2228 | ||
MV Claymore II is a New Zealand-registered passenger-cargo ship, built in 1968 as the buoy tender Konrad Meisel for the German Government and later owned in South Africa as Isibane. She provides the essential transport links to the remote Pacific territory of Pitcairn Island from New Zealand and French Polynesia, part-funded by the British Government.
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Buoy tender
Konrad Meisel was built in 1968 by Jadewerft Wilhelmshaven GmbH, Wilhelmshaven for the Wasser- und Schifffahrtsamt Cuxhaven (Waterways and Shipping Office Cuxhaven) of the Federal Republic of Germany. When built, she measured 514 gross register tons with dimensions of 48.82m LOA, 44.30m LBP, 9.56m beam and 4.65m depth, and a draught of 3.25m. She was powered by two Deutz 8-cylinder diesel engines, totalling 1103kW (1500bhp), geared to a single propeller. Over the single hold an eleven-ton crane was installed.
During Konrad Meisel's 30-year service with WSA Cuxhaven, she was responsible for the maintenance of marine navigation buoys in the lower River Elbe and the adjacent sea areas. In 1998 the ship was retired by the WSA Cuxhaven and sold to the South African Government.
The tender was allocated to the South African Maritime Safety Authority and renamed Isibane, Zulu for 'light', by which time she had been remeasured as 486 gross tons. In 2004 she was sold to South African company Zonnekus Mansion Pty Ltd and transferred to the Panamanian flag.
Passenger-cargo vessel
In August 2009 Isibane was purchased by Nigel Jolly, of Stoney Creek Shipping Co Ltd, Palmerston North, New Zealand, modified to carry cargo and 12 passengers, and renamed Claymore II. Stoney Creek Shipping had been providing a passenger and cargo link to Pitcairn at the request of the British Government since 2002 with Braveheart, a former Japanese fishery research ship.
Claymore II is contracted by the Pitcairn Island Council, and subsidised by the British Government, to make four annual round trips to deliver cargo and supplies to Pitcairn Island from New Zealand, loading at Tauranga. She also makes eight subsidised round trips each year, from Pitcairn to Mangareva, French Polynesia, the nearest airport, for passengers to connect to the air service to Tahiti. Outside these scheduled services, the vessel is available for charter. As Pitcairn has no port facilities, all cargo and passengers are landed on the island from Claymore II by longboat. As of 2014, there were concerns regarding the continued availability of the loading berth at Tauranga. However, the vessel was still servicing Pitcairn from the Port of Tauranga as of 2016
The ship is the subject of a 2011 $1.80 Pitcairn Islands stamp.