Blue Funnel Line
Encyclopedia
Alfred Holt and Company, marketed as the Blue Funnel Line, was founded by Alfred Holt on 16 January 1866.
The main operating subsidiary was the Ocean Steam Ship Company
, which owned and operated the majority of the company's vessels.
A Dutch
subsidiary, the Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij Oceaan, was founded in 1891, as was the East India Ocean Steam Ship Company, operated from Singapore
. This latter was sold in 1899 to Norddeutscher Lloyd
. The company acquired the competing China Mutual Steam Navigation Company in 1902, keeping it on the books as a separate company but operating it as part of the Blue Funnel Line.
Ships of the Blue Funnel fleet all had names from classical Greek legend or history. The majority were cargo ship
s, but most of the Ocean SS Co cargo ships also had capacity for a few passengers. The line also had a small number of purely passenger vessels.
The Blue Funnel Line came to an end in 1988, when Ocean Group
withdrew from the Barber Blue Sea Service, its last shipping line.
The main operating subsidiary was the Ocean Steam Ship Company
Ocean Group plc
Ocean Group plc was a major British transport business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
, which owned and operated the majority of the company's vessels.
A Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
subsidiary, the Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij Oceaan, was founded in 1891, as was the East India Ocean Steam Ship Company, operated from Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. This latter was sold in 1899 to Norddeutscher Lloyd
Norddeutscher Lloyd
Norddeutsche Lloyd was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on February 20, 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was instrumental in the economic...
. The company acquired the competing China Mutual Steam Navigation Company in 1902, keeping it on the books as a separate company but operating it as part of the Blue Funnel Line.
Ships of the Blue Funnel fleet all had names from classical Greek legend or history. The majority were cargo ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
s, but most of the Ocean SS Co cargo ships also had capacity for a few passengers. The line also had a small number of purely passenger vessels.
The Blue Funnel Line came to an end in 1988, when Ocean Group
Ocean Group plc
Ocean Group plc was a major British transport business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
withdrew from the Barber Blue Sea Service, its last shipping line.
External links
- http://www.bluefunnel.myzen.co.uk/
- http://www.red-duster.co.uk/BLUEFUN.htm
- http://www.kbolton.btinternet.co.uk/aholt.html
- http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/bluefunnel.html