New Zealand Shipping Company

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The New Zealand Shipping Company (NZSC, partly also NZSCo), often simply called "The Shipping Company" in New Zealand, was a British / New Zealand shipping company . It existed from 1873 to 1973.

history

Foundation and development

The New Zealand Shipping Company (NZSC) was founded on January 6th, 1873 in Christchurch , New Zealand, to create a New Zealand counterweight to the British-dominated New Zealand trade. Four iron sailing ships acquired second-hand and chartered ships formed the beginning. A few other second-hand purchases and twelve newbuildings completed the fleet until 1877. All ships were measured with almost 1000 gross tons each . Even later, the shipping company chartered a large number of additional sailing ships.

Due to the desire of the New Zealand government to use steamers, the NZSC and Shaw, Savill chartered the steamer Stad Haarlem together for a single tour in 1879 . Despite the fully booked ship with 600 passengers in both directions and a journey time of 57 days from London to Lyttelton , the otherwise successful voyage was a financial failure. The government continued to offer no subsidies, but continued to press for the establishment of a steamboat line to attract a "better class" of immigrants and create more even shipping connections for New Zealand meat exports. From 1881, the NZSC began to provide ships with cooling systems for meat export. In 1883 the NZSC gave in to the pressure and chartered the Fenstanton , which opened the first regular steamship line between Great Britain and New Zealand. The Fenstanton was later replaced by the larger British King . The NZSC also chartered the White Star Line ships Ionic and Doric . Then the shipping companies NZSC and Shaw, Savil managed to conclude a joint agreement with the government to set up a steamboat connection with monthly departures. For this purpose, five newbuildings of almost 4,500 GRT were ordered from the John Elder and Company shipyard , whose names Tongariro , Aorangi , Ruapehu , Kaikoura and Rimutaka were named after New Zealand mountains. Despite the necessary port and bunker calls starting in Plymouth, Tenerife, Cape Town and Hobart and returning home in Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Tenerife, the new ships halved the journey time around the Cape of Good Hope and back around Cape Horn . The route was maintained until 1914, the year the Panama Canal opened.

Change of ownership

Since the steamers of the Tongariro series turned out to be uneconomical, the shipping company got into financial difficulties. In 1890, the future Sir Edwyn Dawes took over a significant part of the NZSC's shares from Sir William Pearce. The financial control of the shipping company, which was a bit troubled at the time, was transferred to London by Edwyn S. Dawes and operations were reorganized. Dawes held shares in shipping companies and in meat processing, which put him in a good position to convert the shipping company. Starting with the ruin , which was put into service in 1891 , Dawes' replaced the fleet with larger ships with more economical propulsion systems. In the following ten years, six even larger ships were added to the successful ruin , making the shipping company a fixture in the so-called home trade by the turn of the century .

In 1910, NZSCo, Shaw, Savill & Albion Line and the White Star Line took control of the Canadian-Australasian Line from James Huddart and continued his New Zealand-Australia-Canada service.

In 1912 the NZSC merged with the Federal Steam Navigation Company , but both companies remained under their own control and retained their identity and colors. Both shipping companies were taken over by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company four years later , but continued to operate as independent companies. Only the exchange of the ships used within existing P&O subsidiaries became common. In the years 1914 to 1918, the shipping company lost eleven ships with a capacity of 86,000 tons; only four passenger ships survived the war. In order to be able to resume the monthly service, the passenger facilities of the Shropshire of the Federal Steam Navigation were expanded and incorporated into the service as Rotorua .

The three passenger ships Rotorua (I), Ruahine (II) and Remuera (I) were supplemented by a remarkable trio of ships in 1929 when the three 16,000-ton motor ships Rangitane , Rangitata and Rangitiki were put into service. Three more 11,000-ton motor freighters followed in 1931. In 1936, the NZSC began operating the Montreal-Australian New Zealand Line (MANZ Line) with the shipping companies Ellerman & Bucknall and the Port Line , which continued until 1971. In 1938 the additionally chartered P&O ship Mongolia came to the NZSC fleet as Rimutaka .

In the years of the Second World War, the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Federal Steam Navigation Company lost 19 ships with a combined volume of 195,000 tons, including the Rangitane , which was sunk by the auxiliary cruiser Komet and 16 people died. The Remuera and Rotorua were also lost, while the Rangitiki and Rangitata survived their service as troop transports , which lasted from 1941 until the end of the war , and were returned in 1949.

Post-war years

To compensate for the war losses, the shipping company ordered two new Rangi- type ships ( Rangitoto and a new Rangitane ), which were delivered in 1949. In 1951 a third ship of the type followed, the Ruahine . Together with the two remaining Rangi s, the ships formed the backbone of New Zealand's scheduled services until the 1960s. the former Cunard ship Parthia joined the NZSC fleet as Remuera for several years in 1962 . Shortly afterwards, the two sister ships Rangitata and Rangitiki, built in 1929, were withdrawn from regular service. In the further course of the 1960s, the shipping company's scheduled passenger services accumulated so high losses due to the triumphant advance of passenger aviation that in 1969 all passenger services were discontinued. In the last few years of their existence, all NZSC ships carried the funnel colors of the Federal Steam Navigation. In 1973 the remaining NZSC ships were finally added to the P&O fleet and the New Zealand Shipping Company ceased to exist after exactly 100 years. Some of the traditional Maori names of the former NZSC ships survived for another decade, then this chapter also ended.

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