The Fleets

Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland / Netherlands Steamship Co.

Founded in 1870 to operate a direct passenger service between Holland and the Dutch East Indies via the Suez Canal. During the Great War, Holland being a neutral country took the oppurtunity to establish a subsidiary company, Java - New York Line, initially via the Cape of Good Hope, and after 1917 via the Panama Canal. In 1915 the Java Pacific Line was set up to operate between Java and the Pacific Coast of America via Hong Kong and Manila. Later services expanded to include Gulf of Mexico ports. World War II caused disruption and heavy losses to the fleet, but in 1941 the company diversified into the tramping trade and in 1948 set up new routes between South Africa and South America and between Holland, the Persian Gulf and India. Due to the closure of the Indonesian market by the Indonesian Government in 1957, the two remaining passenger ships were transferred to a round-the-world cruise service. All trade to Indonesia under the Dutch flag was discontinued in 1960, the Java - New York Line ceased services and a new route was started with Bombay as the final destination. A new service under the name Nedlloyd Middle East Express was started between the Great Lakes and the Persian Gulf, India and Pakistan. The European service sailed to China and Japan and added New Guinea, Tahiti, New Caledonia and New Zealand to it's routes. Netherlands Line and Rotterdam Lloyd formed Nedlloyd Lines in 1963 and each firm contributed 25 ships to the new company, which then took over all services from the founding companies. The same year, Indonesia lifted trade restrictions on Dutch carriers. Services between the east coast of the USA and India and those from Africa were terminated in 1967. In 1969 Netherland Line, Royal Rotterdam Lloyd, Royal Interocean Lines and Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Mij., combined to form Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie and Netherland Line disappeared as a seperate entity.

Many thanks to Ted Finch for his assistance in collecting this data. The following list was extracted from various sources. This is not an all inclusive list but should only be used as a guide. If you would like to know more about a vessel, visit the Ship Descriptions (onsite) or Immigrant Ship web site.

see also: ships managed by Netherlands SS Co for the Dutch Government, during and after WWII.

Funnel: Buff funnel with black top Fleet:

Ships managed by Netherlands SS Co for the Dutch Government, during and after WWII.

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Last updated: November 26, 2007 and maintained by and M. Kohli