A fund raising campaign has been launched in New Zealand to keep the 55-year-old Youth With A Mission ship Ywam Koha in service.
Built in 1966 as the German buoy tender Konrad Meisel, the 48.8m by 9.5m vessel last traded commercially as the supply ship Claymore II for Pitcairn Island and carried both cargo and passengers between New Zealand and the island under a British government subsidy.
In March 2019 the 486gt ship, which is powered by two Deutz VM545 main engines for 9.5-knots, was donated to Youth With A Mission but has since become laid up at Lautoka, Fiji in need of NZ $300,000 for propeller shaft repairs.
Report by Jim Shaw
