Northern Express The Northern Express was delivered to Vroon in October 1986 by Scheepswerf Van Diepen of Waterhuizen.
The Northern Express is the sixth vessel out of a series of eight ships built by this yard.
Six of them were for Seatrade, and the other two were for companies related to Vroon.
Actually there were nine vessels of this type constructed, but one of these was built at a different shipyard. (Scheepswerf Pattje, Waterhuizen. wbmstr)
After its delivery the vessel was brought into the Seatrade Reefer Pool, today better known as Scaldis Reefer Chartering.

Repair job
Whilst sailing along the coast of Greenland on the 4th of August 1989 the Northern Express ran aground near Egedesminde.
Local divers inspected the ship's bottom and it was decided to continue the voyage.
In the next port of call the ship was examined again and according to the reports damage appeared to be far more serious than originally thought.
Once in dry-dock in the port of Delfzijl it became clear that 60% of the ship's bottom and a lot of the internals had to be renewed.

After the repair job was completed the vessel was frequently used in the trade between Central and South America and Western Europe.
After it became clear in 1992 that the variable pitch propeller was not reliable enough, it was replaced with a new one of a different make (Sulzer Escher Wyss replaced by Lips. wbmstr). Several sister vessels which were fitted out with the same type of equipment encountered similar problems.
In 1993 the vesse1 was sold to a Filipino company which left the management in the hands of Vroon.
From then on Manila became her new port of registry. Last year the ship made a complete voyage around the world. Up until now the vessel is still being employed in the Scaldis Reefer Pool.

Northern Explorer