The Canterbury Steam Shipping Company was established in 1904 and concerned itself with coastal trade about the South Island and lower North Island of New Zealand.
Storm, named after the company’s first ship, would be its last. The ship was built in Scotland by Scott & Sons of Bowling. It entered service in 1961, a time when the company was struggling to make ends meet. Coastal trade was dwindling, and the ships of the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company were either sold off, chartered, or laid up in the years that followed. The final nail in the coffin was the introduction of rail ferries. These ships, purchased by the New Zealand Railways Department, linked the rail lines of the North Island to those of the South Island. In 1969 the Union Company, which now held much sway in the affairs of the Canterbury Steam Shipping Company, placed
Storm and other Canterbury vessels under the control of the Holm Shipping Company.
Storm was technically owned by Canterbury Steam Shipping Company until 1974, when that entity ceased to exist.
As a vessel of the Holm Shipping Company, Storm continued to visit ports around the South Island and lower North Island. Unfortunately, Holm ran into the same financial issues.
Storm was laid up in December 1974. The ship was sold to Crossworld Management & Brokerage in 1975 and became known as the
Surabaya Fortune. Less than two years later,
Surabaya Fortune was sold to Pacific Internal Lines and received the name
Kota Perwira. In 1984,
Kota Perwira was sold to Thai Boon Roong Trading via the Sabah South East Asia Investment Corporation. This time, no name change occurred. In 1986, the ship was interned at Madras after gold bars and other contraband was discovered in her hold. The vessel was sold to John Fidel but a leak partially sank her in 1987. In 1988,
Kota Perwira was sold to Indian breakers.