Empire Balfour was a 7,201 ton refrigerated cargo ship which was built by Lithgows Ltd, Port Glasgow in 1944 for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT).

[1] She was initially operated under the management of Elders & Fyffes Ltd,[2] and then Houlder Brothers & Co Ltd,[3] Newport, Monmouthshire.

[5] Convoy SC 166 sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia on 31 January 1945 and arrived at Liverpool on 13 February.

[6] In 1947, Houlder Line reported that during 1946 they had taken Empire Balfour on bareboat charter for a period of three years.

She was converted from coal to oil fuel and improvements made in the crew's accommodation at a cost of £45,000.