Glen Line
The British shipping company Glen Line existed from 1867 to 1978.
history
The roots of the shipping company go back to 1867. In that year Alan C. Gow took over a new sailing ship with which he set up a service between Glasgow and Liverpool around Cape Horn to Chile . In the following year he bought another ship, which for the first time had a name beginning with " Glen ". After the opening of the Suez Canal , the shipping company decided to enter the Chinese tea trade with steamers. This business began in 1870 and the ships' home port was changed to London . The steamship business was led by James McGregor, who rose to senior partner until 1880, after which the shipping company was renamed "McGregor, Gow & Company". In the same year the trip to South America was ended and from then on the focus was on the India and Far East routes.
In 1910, the company was converted to the corporation "Glen Line Limited". A year later the shipping company Elder Dempster & Company acquired the majority of the shares. Another year later, Elder Dempster merged the newly acquired line with the Shire Line to form "Glen and Shire Lines", but left the company operationally independent until after the First World War . In 1920 both shipping companies were finally completely merged.
In 1931 the parent company of Elder Dempster & Co., the Kylsant Group, collapsed, whereupon Alfred Holt & Co. acquired the Glen and Shire Lines in 1935 and had their fleets registered in Liverpool instead of London. Under the direction of Holts, the shipping companies Glen, Shire, Blue Funnel Lines and China Mutual Steam Navigation Company frequently exchanged ships with one another.
After the Glen Line was subordinated to the Ocean Transport & Trading Company, which was merged with Holts Ocean Steamship Company and the Elder, Dempster Line in 1967, this ushered in the last phase of the shipping company. 1974 was followed by a further merger with William Thomson's Ben Line to Ben-Ocean Services. The last Glen Line ship was finally sold in 1978. Glen Line Limited continued to exist as a shipping company without ships until 1990, when the name and rights were acquired by Curnow Shipping Ltd. acquired from Cornwall .
Web links
- Glen Line at theshipslist