Having been on the boat tour on Chao Phraya I also had snapped pictures of this lady, "Vanvarang". To me she looked like an old repurposed fishing vessel and on Facebook I did find one ad for a boat party some 7 years ago.
The name "Vanvarang" did elicit some more info in the inter-webs. It appears she has not yet been decommissioned as on some sites she is mentioned "decommisioned or lost" and on others still as "active", go figure. Now she seemed to be a floating fixture on the water front and judging of pictures online she has been in Bangkok for quite awhile. Her Facebook page also advertises her for rent as "docked only".
I found out that she's been originally been built in 1975 by Usuki Ironworks Co Ltd yard as fishing vessel "Shinkai Maru" although on her Facebook page it is mentioned that she was working as a marine survey vessel for a decade before having been sold to Thai interests where I guess she was converted for fishing and later becoming a floating nightclub. I found that there is a collection of marine specimens from r/v Shinkai Maru from that era in the Museum of New Zealand as well as research done by her off Patagonia (if it was her?).
Quite interesting how some old things drift around the world then finally to be converted for local businesses entrepreneurs when they aren't no longer profitable for their original purpose. Like my hometown in Finland, Turku, has along their riverbanks many old decommissioned coasters serving as watering holes in the summertime.
Below are some pictures I found online, she might've still been in service when in white livery and later gotten a blue/ white paint scheme, maybe because the floating dirt in the river wouldn't show so clearly. Note the transformation she has had, some of the superstructure has been removed. The rustred maroon color she now sports reminds me of the primer color from my deckhand days or these days on yachts they use same color when they apply a paint protection on the actual paint.
Finding anything on her from 1975-85 when she was allegedly working as a marine research vessel looks impossible not to mention that the name "Shinkai Maru" appears to be as common as "Smith" in English. The word "Maru" (丸) is a suffix commonly used on Japanese ships names. I did find a 100m long deep sea trawler launched in 1975 with same name and many others.
Vanvarang from 2009
Credit: Geir Vinnes (Shipspotting)
Vanvarang from 2009
Credit: Geir Vinnes (Shipspotting)
Vanvarang from 2017
Credit: bs1mrc (Shipspotting)
Vanvarang from 2015
Credit: Graham Buchan Innes (Shipspotting)
Vanvarang from 2015
Credit: Graham Buchan Innes (Shipspotting)
Vanvarang from 2017
Credit: Vanvarang (FB page)
Name: Vanvarang
Ship type: Fishing Vessel
Service Status Active, Commissioned
Flag: Thailand
Home Port: Bangkok
IMO: 7434468
MMSI: 567068700
Call Sign: HSB2314
Built: 1975
Builder: Usuki Ironworks Co. Ltd
Gross tonnage: 665
Summer deadweight: 193 tons
Length: 51 m / 167 ft
Beam: 8 m / 26 ft
As a historical footnote, the builder was Toyokichi Tanaka that in 1919, at the age of 28, he founded Usuki Ironworks Co., Ltd., which manufactured hot bulb engines (for ships). So, he must have advanced into shipbuilding as the years went on.
Usuki Ironworks Co Ltd yard appear to have gone bankrupt in 1978 and a new Usuki shipyard was formed on the ashes of the old. They are still in business and history only goes back as far as 1988 on their website (when they were founded). Indeed they proclaim on their webpages that "Usuki shipyard was established in 1988 by succeeding facilities, technology, and human resources of Usuki Ironworks Co. We have been building and shipping world-class vessels in Oita prefecture, despite our location in a rural area of Japan." Wikipedia however says that Usuki Shipyard Co., Ltd. was founded by leasing the facilities of Usuki Ironworks, which had shipyards in Usuki and Saiki , after the company filed for bankruptcy in July 1978.
Not much of a difference but sheds light on how the new Usuki shipyard was founded, the original founder passed away and the younger generation did not continue with the fathers company. I still wonder what happened between 1978-1988 or if it is a typo, maybe the liquidation of the estate took 10 years. Oita is the prefecture of Saiki that is on Fukuoka island, western Japan
I did also find other ships built earlier by Usuki Ironworks, like e.g. "Kurama" from 1967 that started as a Coast Guard vessel. In 1996 she was refurbished into a "yacht" but re-registered to Panama and renamed to Blue Ocean I. The name on the picture from 2020 is still Kurama (in Kanji) though. The name "Kurama" is actually a mountain in Japan.
Blue Ocean 1 (ex Kurama) at Maizuru port, Japan, in 2020
LOA 33m, GT 126
"Immediately after retirement the patrol vessel of Maritime Safety Agency (Japan Coast Guard)"
Credit: Daisuke Nimura (Marinetraffic)
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