She was then chartered in 1894 to Huddart Parker, underwent a major refit from 1896 to 1897, that made her funnel 10 feet (3.0 m) taller and changed her accommodations to 100 first-class and 50 second-class berths.

Aorangi in this time carried some of the 1878 to 1911 wave of Portuguese immigration to Hawaii, when she arrived on 16 February 1901 in Honolulu Harbor from Vancouver with a contingent of 23 Portuguese immigrants, who had been recruited from the Eastern United States to work as contract laborers on the Hawaiian sugarcane plantations.

[2][3] The Aorangi continued to provide service between Australia and the United States until 1914 when she was laid up at Sydney.

In April 1914 the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) chartered Aorangi and used her as a supply ship.

She was armed with a QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun, and took part in operations against the German colonies in the Pacific with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force and Australian Fleet.