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The ship was built specifically for servicing Saint Helena in 1989. ''St Helena'' is British registered, weighs 6,767 gross tonnes, and has berths for a maximum of 128 passengers plus 56 officers and crew. Originally Saint Helena was served by ships of the Union Castle Line, which ran between the UK and South Africa . However by the 1960s, the number of ships taking this route had declined significantly. As Saint Helena lacked an airfield, it was necessary for the British government to purchase a ship to service the remote Island and its dependencies from Cape Town. The first ''St. Helena'' was built in 1963, weighing 3,150 tonnes. The ship was used by the British during the Falklands War as a troop ship. However, by the 1980s it was becoming apparent that the ship was too small for its needs, and a new ''St. Helena'' was built in 1989 . In 2001 , the British Serious Fraud Office investigated the operators of the service, Curnow Shipping for alleged fraud, however the subsequent court case collapsed. In 2005 , the British government announced plans to construct an airfield on Saint Helena, ready to be operational in 2010 when the current ''St. Helena'' reached the end of its working life. EXTERNAL LINKS
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