This decision was made in the interests of maneuverability, since the center of thrust is in the outer part of the disk thus giving a larger turning moment arm.
Union Rotorua was built with a large angled stern ramp that allowed her to unload her cargo at any wharf without the need for a specialist linkspan as required by most ro-ro ships.
She also had a bow door which could be used if a linkspan was present in a port, thus allowing cargo to be worked both forward and aft speeding up turn around time.
It was a feat never before accomplished with two ships of this size, and Captain John Warren of Union Rotorua later exclaimed: ‘If anyone had previously tried to tell me it was possible … I would have thought them quite barmy’.
[4] On 29 December 1993 Union Rotorua was about 27 miles south of Sydney Heads, en route for Melbourne, when a fire broke out in the gas turbine house.
It was established that the seat of the fire was in one of the cubicles of the 6.6 kilovolt switchboard, which distributed power from the gas turbine generator to the propulsion motors and auxiliary electrical systems.
Berthed at Freyberg Wharf she was connected up so that her gas turbine and A.C. generator could supply power to one of the cities largest users, Ports of Auckland Ltd.