It operated 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 opportunity 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 its routes.

Nederland Line and Royal 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.

On the threshold of the 100th anniversary the close cooperation with friendly Dutch shipowners resulted in a merger. The know-how, quality and power of 4 shipping companies were bundled. On January 20th, 1970 the Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie (NSU) was born. The companies involved were:

• Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland (SMN) – Nederland Line
• Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd (KRL) – Royal Rotterdam Lloyd
• Koninklijke Java-China-Paketvaart-Lijnen (KJCPL) – Royal InterOcean Lines
• Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaartmaatschappij (VNS) – United Netherlands Navigation Co.

Later on NSU became Nedlloyd and in 1988 Koninklijke Nedlloyd (Royal Nedlloyd Line). In 1981 the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomboot-Maatschappij (KNSM) completed the group.

Much later in 1996 Koninklijke Nedlloyd (Royal Nedlloyd) from The Netherlands joined with P&O to become, as P&O Nedlloyd, a major player in the worldwide container trade.

In 2005 A.P. Moller-Maersk Group from Denmark acquired P&O Nedlloyd and it became Maersk Line and part of the world’s largest container shipping line.