The Fleets

Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaartmaatschapppij / United Netherlands Navigation Company, ’s-Gravenhage 1920-1970

The end of World War 1 in 1918 was for the Dutch Shipping Companies a period of optimism, because the German Shipping Companies had disappeared from the seas and the demand for shipping tonnage was high. Several directors of Dutch Shipping Companies decided to start a new company to fill the gap left behind by the Germans especially the Deutsche Ost Afrika Linie (German East Africa Line), Woermann.

On 30 April 1920 the N.V. Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaartmaatschappij, ’s-Gravenhage was founded by Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland (SMN), Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (KNSM), Java, China, Japan Lijn (JCJL), Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM), Holland Amerika Lijn (HAL), Rotterdamsche Lloyd (RL), Van Nievelt, Goudriaan en Co’s. Stoomvaart Maatschappij (Nigoco) and N.V. Stoomvaart Maatschappij “De Maas” (Van Ommeren) with a capital of 200 million Dutch guilders. The VNS took over the exploitation of the Holland-British India Line from the HAL and Van Ommeren, the Holland-Australia Line from the RL, the Holland-East Asia Line from SMN and Nigoco and the Holland East Africa Line from the KNSM. Shortly afterwards the Holland West Africa Line was added in conjunction with the Hollandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (HSM) and Koninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd (KHL).

Because newbuilding of ships was to expensive after World War 1 the VNS and the KNSM founded with permission from the British Government the David Steamship Company Ltd. and acquired 17 German ships allocated to Great Britain as war reparations from Germany and in 1921 when the export of the ships was allowed by the British Government, 14 ships went to the VNS and 3 to the KNSM. When all the ships were under Dutch flag the David Steamship Company Ltd. was liquidated. In 1919 the N.V. Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij (NZASM) was founded with financial support from the Dutch Government for five years, to start a connection to South Africa as the Holland South Africa Line. In 1924 the NZASM and the VNS combined the Holland-East Asia and the Holland South Africa Line under a new name; the Holland Africa Line.

In 1932 the NZASM went in liquidation and the VNS took over the fleet and goodwill. The VNS lost eleven ships in World War 2. After the war a newbuilding programm was started to replace the losses. The once very successful passenger service declined in the sixties by political troubles in a lot of African countries and competition of the air travel 1967 caused the sale of the Oranjefontein and Jagersfontein and replace them with fast cargo ships. Because the change towards containerisation was too costly for one company, the SMN, Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd (KRL), the Koninklijke Java China Pakertvaart Lijnen (KJCPL) and VNS announced in 1969 a merger as the Nederlandse Scheepvaart Unie NSU and took over all the lines from these companies, later became the NSU Nedlloyd and later Koninklijke Nedlloyd Group, P&O Nedlloyd Container Line and now Maersk Lines.

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:
  • Holland East Africa Line
  • Holland West Africa Line
  • Holland Africa Line
  • Holland-Australia Line
  • Holland-Bengal-Burma Line
  • Holland-Bombay-Karachi Line
  • Holland-British India Line
  • Holland-East Asia Line
• Abbreviations:
  • SMN :      Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland
  • KR :         Rotterdamsche Lloyd, later Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd
  • KRL :       Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd
  • KNSM :   Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij
  • JCJL :      Java, China, Japan Lijn, later Koninklijke Java China Pakertvaart Lijnen
  • KJCPL :   Koninklijke Java China Paketvaart Lijnen
  • KPM :      Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij Nigoco : Van Nievelt, Goudriaan en Co’s. Stoomvaart Maatschappij
  • HAL :       Holland Amerika Lijn
  • HSM :      Hollandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij
  • KHL :       Koninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd
  • NZASM : Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij

Funnel: 1932 - 1970 Black with orange band. Fleet:

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