first voyage of the year.

Meyer Agencies spokesman Stephen Paynter reported that the Somers Isles arrived in Hamilton Harbour on Sunday morning from Fernandina Beach, Florida, with 135 containers.

The total, a record load for the container ship which began operating between Bermuda and Florida in 1985, included nine refrigerated containers.

Also off loaded from the vessel before it departed on Monday morning was some loose cargo including a 36-foot pontoon boat, four pleasure boats and building materials including 43 bundles of lumber and plywood and two steel tanks.

Mr. Paynter said the previous record was 131 containers but noted that figure came when the ship's scheduled voyage had to be postponed for a week because of mechanical difficulties.

He could not explain the volume but pointed out that all the Island's general importers seemed to have extra containers.

Meanwhile Celebrity Cruises' Zenith made its first regular visit to the Island from New York for the year.

It arrived on Monday morning and berthed at Hamilton Dock One with 1,372 passengers on board.

Mr. Paynter said the ship shifted to St. George's yesterday morning as scheduled. It is due to depart this afternoon.

Its sister ship made its third voyage of the year this week, he added.

The Horizon arrived Monday afternoon from Charleston, North Carolina, and berthed at King's Wharf in Dockyard with 1,107 passengers on board. It is scheduled to depart this afternoon.

Elsewhere in local cruise ship circles, Meyer Agencies' Capt. John Moore reported that the Norwegian Majesty arrived on Tuesday from Boston with 1,161 passengers on board.

The vessel -- formerly known as the Royal Majesty -- is set to depart tomorrow.

And Holland America's Rotterdam steamed into Grassy Bay on Tuesday with 1,430 people on board.

The vessel was en route from New York to the Azores when it made the Island stopover. It sailed out Tuesday afternoon.

And John S. Darrell's Saleem Talbot told The Royal Gazette that the cruise ship TSS Topaz was scheduled to arrive this Saturday with 196 people on board.

The ship is out of the Azores and is set to leave Bermuda on Sunday for Port Canaveral in Florida.

Mr. Talbot added that the cement ship MV Frieda was due to arrive at the Commercial Berth in the West End.

The 118.9-metre-long vessel is out of Tampico, Mexico. It is scheduled to return there when it finishes off loading its cargo in Bermuda. This should take a couple of days, said Mr. Talbot.

In other shipping news, Mr. Paynter reported that the Bermuda Islander made its regularly scheduled trip of the week from Salem, New Jersey.

The container ship arrived on Monday morning with 106 containers -- which included 17 refers -- and a loose chassis on board. It departed on Tuesday morning.

And Container Ship Management's Glennis Dickinson said the Oleander arrived from Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, on Sunday and departed on Tuesday.

Between voyages it off loaded 39 refers, 139 dry containers, two trailers of steel, 18 cars, a truck and a boat.