United Netherlands Navigation Company (Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Maatschappij - VNS)

(Est. 1920)


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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 Line.

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.

As a result VNS operated several lines under different brands:

·        Holland Africa Line

·        Holland Australia Line

·        Holland West 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 it was decided to merge the Dutch shipping companies into one entity.

So In 1970 VNS merged with other Dutch shipping companies and lost its independent identity. As on January 20th, 1970 the Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie (NSU) was born. The companies involved in this merger 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 Scheepvaart Maatschappij (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 from The United Kingdom 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.

A.P. Moller-Maersk Group
www.maersk.com

Maersk Line
www.maerskline.com




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