She's sailed to Bermuda for 19 years in fair weather and foul, bringing in items ranging from pink buses to an elephant.

And yesterday, the Oleander container ship was greeted with water cannon and a VIP reception when she marked her 1500th voyage from Port Elizabeth, New Jersey.

The Bermuda Container Lines (BCL) vessel hosted directors and other guests in St. George's early in the afternoon.

She then sailed on to Hamilton where she was met by a Government tug near Two Rock Passage and escorted into the harbour with a celebratory shower from its fire hose.

The Oleander was moored overnight by the flagpole on Front Street, taking advantage of a work-to-rule by dock workers to show her in a fresh light to passers-by.

This morning, Mayor of Hamilton Sutherland Madeiros will present a plaque to Capt Jacek Jurszo to mark the 1500-voyage milestone while her wares are unpacked at the docks.

The vessel has brought many essential items to Bermuda over the last 19 years on her weekly two-day visits from Port Elizabeth.

BCL president Geoffrey Frith explained: "Nearly all of these voyages have been undertaken by the two Oleanders owned by Bermuda Container Line Ltd. with the exception of a handful of voyages undertaken by chartered-in ships while the owned vessels were in dry-dock.

"The first Oleander was on the route from December 6 1979 to November 1990 and completed just over 500 voyages in the service.

"The present Oleander has been in service since November 1990 and has completed over 950 voyages. During these 1500 voyages the ships in the service have travelled 2,130,000 nautical miles and brought 239,000 containers to Bermuda."

"In addition to the containers BCL ships have carried a wide variety of other cargo such as the ubiquitous Bermuda pink buses, engines for Belco, live animals including elephants, horses, cows, pigs and even bulls.

"On the 1500th voyage itself the Oleander has three large fire engines for the Bermuda Fire Service.

"The crew who have served on BCL's ships include a number of nationalities such as Dutch, Filipino, Canadian, Polish, Russian and, of course, Bermudians. The present captain on board is Jacek Jurszo and he has been with BCL for a year."

In December, Bermuda Container Line will celebrate 30 years of service to Bermuda. In commemoration of that anniversary and Bermuda's own 400th celebrations, the company has sponsored the Tall Ships Festival in Hamilton from June 11 to 15 as part of the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge 2009 and also Bermuda's own tall ship Spirit of Bermuda.