Blue Star Line
Booth Line , Associated container transportation, Starman shipping, Austasia line |
The Blue Star Line was a British passenger and cargo shipping company formed in 1911, being in operation until 1998.
Formation
Blue Star Line was formed as an initiative by the
The company supplied beef to
Blue Star expanded into passenger transport, notably with five 12,900 GRT liners built in 1926–27 for its new London – Rio de Janeiro – Buenos Aires route. Cammell Laird of Birkenhead built three sister ships: Almeda, Andalucia and Arandora. John Brown & Company of Clydebank built two: Avelona and Avila. The quintet came to be called the "Luxury Five". The five ships also had refrigerated holds to carry frozen meat from South America to Britain.[3]
The new service was a challenge to both foreign competitors and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, whose Royal Mail Ships had been the premier UK carrier of mail, passengers and some cargoes between Britain, Brazil and the River Plate for 75 years. RMSP Chairman Lord Kylsant called the Blue Star ships "very keen competition" even though at the very same time his company introduced two larger and more luxurious new ocean liners for passenger and refrigerated cargo on the route, the 22,200 GRT Asturias (completed 1926) and Alcantara (completed 1927).[4]
In 1929 Blue Star added "Star" to the end of the name of each of its ships. This may have been partly to help distinguish Blue Star from Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, whose ships bore similar Spanish names. RMSP was an old company with a distinguished history, but had got into difficulties and collapsed amid financial scandal in 1932.[3]
In 1935
Second World War
By 1939 Blue Star Line operated 39 ships, all of which gave Second World War service. In 1940 an Imperial Star-class ship being built by Burmeister & Wain in Denmark was captured in the German invasion of Denmark and completed as a Kriegsmarine submarine tender.[5]
Because the Imperial Star-class were refrigerated and in merchant shipping terms relatively fast, several sailed in high-risk convoys to relieve the
Blue Star suffered heavy losses. 29 ships were sunk: a total of 309,390 gross register tons (GRT). They included all of the Luxury Five liners, and two Empire ships that the company was managing for the Ministry of War Transport. Another 16 vessels, including three more Empire ships under Blue Star management, were seriously damaged. By the end of hostilities only 12 "Star" ships remained in the fleet.[6] 646 Blue Star personnel, 272 passengers and 78 DEMS gunners were killed.[7]
Blue Star Line bought Lamport and Holt Line in 1944 and Booth Steamship Company in 1946, and ships were often transferred back and forth between the subsidiary companies.[2]
Postwar
Another building programme was enacted to replace wartime losses, supplemented by the purchase or hire of existing ships including
Reorganisation and decline
Blue Star Line divested itself of its holdings in British United Airways in 1968 and became one of the founding partners that year in
In 1982–83 Blue Star Line assisted in the defence of the
Also managed MV Avelona Star at the time under requisition of MOD.Blue Star Line was bought by
Reederei Blue Star
P&O Nedlloyd formed Reederei Blue Star in 2002 as a ship management company, from which it chartered ships.[citation needed] P&O Nedlloyd was bought by AP Moller Maersk Group in 2005 and merged into its operations to form Maersk Line. Reederei Blue Star continues to operate as part of Maersk Line.[2]
On 18 June 2009 Komrowski took over the ship management company Reederei Blue Star GmbH, Hamburg, from Maersk Ship Management Holding B.V., Rotterdam. As of July 2012, the Komrowski Group-owned Blue Star merged with Komrowski Befrachtungskontor and E.R. Schiffahrt to form The Blue Star Holding.
The
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f "Blue Star Line". Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Blue Star Line (Est. 1911)". Archived from Star Line History.html the original on 28 September 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
{{cite web}}
: Check|url=
value (help) - ^ a b "Blue Star's S.S. "Avila Star" 1". One of The Luxury Five. Blue Star on the Web. 26 November 2011. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- ISBN 0-7524-2118-2.
- ^ "Blue Star's M.V. "Adelaide Star" 1". Blue Star on the Web. 30 July 2011. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- ^ Taffrail 1973, p. ix.
- ^ Taffrail 1973, pp. i–vi.
- ^ Asian Shipping[citation needed]. No. 229–240. 1998. p. 6.
When Blue Star took over the PACE service it gained all four of these ships, which were renamed America Star, Melbourne Star, Sydney Star, Queensland Star. It also acquired the ACT 10, built in 1980 for the Shipping Corporation of New ...
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: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Castell, Marcus (2003–2005). "The Turbo Electric Vessel Rangatira of 1971". The New Zealand Maritime Record. Archived from the original on 14 September 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ "Union Steam Ship Company's T.E.V. "Rangatira"". Blue Star on the Web. 3 February 2012. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
Sources
- "Taffrail" (Henry Taprell Dorling) (1973). Blue Star Line at War, 1939–45. London: ISBN 0-572-00849-X.
Links
- "Blue Star Line". The Ships List. Archived from the original on 10 March 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
- "Blue Star Gallery". iancoombe. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
- Blue Star on the Web
- Documents and clippings about Blue Star Line in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW