The Fleets

Maatschappij Zeetransport / Oranje Lijn 1937 - 1970, Rotterdam

Anthony Veder aged 23 years founded on the 16th of July 1937 the N.V. Maatschappij Zeetransport or Oranje Lijn as it was later called. He had the idea to start transporting fruit and nuts from the south of Europe and the North of Africa. He bought two vessels from Norway, these vessels, so called Lakers were specially build for sailing on the Great Lakes the Harpefjell and Taborfjell were respectively renamed PRINS MAURITS and PRINS FREDERIK HENDRIK. The success of the Fjell Line from Norway, owned by Olson & Ugelstad between the Lake Ports and Western Europe did give Anthony Veder a opportunity to step in with his two specially built ships for this trade on 5th of June 1938 the PRINS MAURITS arrived in Chicago. During the winter season the ships were travelling on citrus trips to countries like Italy, Spain and Palestine. After the second World War the name Maatschappij Zeetransport was changed to Oranje Lijn.

In 1948 the Oranje Lijn opened a new service between Western Europe and the Canadian harbours Port Alfred, Quebec and Montreal with the new ships PRINS ALEXANDER en PRINS JOHAN WILLEM FRISO, The vessels were to large to sail on the Great Lakes, in 1959 after the docks were enlarged these ships could also sail to Chicago. In 1953 a larger cargo-passenger vessel the Prins Willem van Oranje was built. This vessel would give a new standard for many vessels and had accommodation for 60 passengers and the Oranje Lijn opened a new service between the Ports of Western Europe and North America and Canada. Once a week a passenger cruise left with many immigrants.

On the 16th of 1955 Oranje Lijn and Fjell signed a co-operation agreement in The Hague. Vessels from both lines carried the name of the new formed co- operation on their sides: Fjell- Oranje Lines. In 1958 the Koninklijke Pakket Maatschappij (KPM) bought all the shares of the Oranje Line. The Holland America Line (HAL) saw future in the new enlarged and re-opened Great Lakes Seaway in 1959 and decided to buy half of the shares of the KPM. The Oranje Lijn took over three ships from the KPM in 1967 and the older smaller ships were sold but the company had difficulty in surviving and made losses so was liquidated on 1 January 1970. The Fjell Line together with partner Fred Olsen continued sailing to the Great Lakes.

Many thanks to Henk Jungerius and Ted Finch for their 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.

• Routes:
  • Rotterdam-Harbours Great Lakes
• Abbreviations:
  • KJCPL :   Koninklijke Java China Paketvaart Lijnen
  • KPM :      Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij
  • HAL :       Holland Amerika Lijn
  • OL :          Oranje Lijn
• Note:
• * : cargo ships with limited passenger accommodation
• + : cargo-passenger ships

Funnel & Flag:
Fleet:	1937-1966		1966-1970

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Last updated: February 01, 2006 and maintained by and M. Kohli