The Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot-Maatschappij (KNSM; Royal Netherlands Steamship Company) was an Amsterdam-based shipping company that existed from 1856 to 1981. It was once the largest company in Amsterdam and one of the top five shipping lines in the Netherlands. The company operated mid-sized cargo ships that had limited passenger accommodations. At its peak in 1939, the company had 79 vessels. Of these, 48 were lost in World War II.
Context (1827–1856) Economical and technical developments In 1827 the Amsterdamsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (ASM) had tried to establish a steamship line from Amsterdam to London, but the line proved economically unviable. A few decades later, the general economic circumstances had changed: In 1846, the Corn Laws had been cancelled. It was also known that the Navigation Acts would be cancelled in 1849. Furthermore, the railroad from Amsterdam had finally reached the Rhine.
Also in the 1840s, some technological innovations changed the conditions for steam navigation. In the Netherlands, iron hulls were introduced for sailing ships when L. Smit en Zoon launched the iron schooner Industrie in 1847. The screw as a means of propelling ships also broke through in the 1840s. Both developments meant that an iron screw ship could transport much more cargo than a paddle steamer of the same size. Furthermore, the screw steamship was a much better sailing ship than the paddle steamer.
All this meant that a lot more goods became eligible for profitable transport by steamships. In the Netherlands the Stoomschroefschooner Reederij (Steam screw schooner line) was founded in the late 1840s. The British St Petersburg Steamship Company opened a line between London and Amsterdam in October 1847, and these were not all.
The Amsterdam Harburger Stoomboot Maatschappij On 31 March 1854 the Amsterdam-Harburger Stoomboot Maatschappij (Amsterdam Harburg Steamship Company) was founded by C.W.J. Ramann and C.A. Müller. This company bought two steamships, which sailed from Amsterdam to Harburg in the Kingdom of Hanover and Altona in (Danish) Holstein. The Harburg company had a share capital of 185,600 guilders. Due to fierce competition with the ASM and other problems, the Harburg company lost about 50,000 guilders in its first two years of operation. In order to prevent the sale of the Harburg company's ships, Paul van Vlissingen bought new shares for 100,000 guilders and took control of the company.
History Foundation of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot-Maatschappij
In April 1856 a committee of influential people announced their intention to found a public company for steam navigation. The company would have to open lines from Amsterdam to Saint Petersburg, Bordeaux and Königsberg. The supervisory board would consist of: Frederic van der Oudermeulen of the Senate; H. Croockewit of De Nederlandsche Bank; J. van Heukelom (Stadnitski & van Heukelom); R.J. Schimmelpenninck (municipality of Amsterdam); and H. Willink (Simon Thomas & Willink). The Directors would be: C.A. von Hemert (Alstorphius & von Hemert); W. Ramann; and C.A. Müller (both of the Harburg company). The share capital of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot-Maatschappij was to consist of 2,000,000 guilders in shares of 1,000 guilders each. By early July 1856 800,000 guilders of shares had been sold, and the company was constituted. By then M.H. Insinger had joined the directors, and C.A. Müller had stepped back to become only a deputy director. The new company immediately got the label (royal), probably due to the influence of Prince Henry.
On 1 October 1856 the contract for the foundation of the KNSM was finalized. The first list of shareholders shows that 813,000 guilders worth of shares were sold. It also shows that the Amsterdam merchants were rather reluctant to participate.
Start of operations The KNSM appointed several agents in the harbors were her ships were destined: Fauré Frères in Bordeaux; Fiedler & Co. in Copenhagen; Schröder en Co. in Riga; R. Kleyenstüber in Königsberg; and Kapherr in Saint Petersburg. In Amsterdam 8 companies were appointed as s (Cargo broker?). In order to start operations as quickly as possible, KNSM hired the English steamer Auguste Louise in June, and the West Friesland from Kampen in August 1856. Both ships led to some losses.
Just after the Crimean War (1853 - March 1856) steamships were still very expensive. However, in August 1856 KNSM succeeded in buying the small iron screw vessel Nina for 8,500 GBP, or about 102,000 guilders. She had 300 tons cargo capacity, could accommodate 30 passengers and had a speed of 11 knots. She was renamed Ondine, and would ply the route to Bordeaux. Four more ships were ordered at William Denny and Brothers in Dumbarton, Scotland. These were three screw ships of 450 ton capacity and 10 feet draft for 37,894 GBP total, and one ship of 300 ton for 9,500 GBP.
The three 450 ton ships were named Berenice, Willem III and Anna Paulowna. The 300 ton vessel was named Rembrandt. A sixth vessel, the 300 ton Urania was ordered at Earle's Shipbuilding in Hull. Two barges were bought for (un)loading the ships, for which there were no quays in Amsterdam. In the Spring of 1857 the vessels built in Dumbarton were delivered.
In the Baltic, the KNSM came to an agreement with the ASM about shipping to Saint Petersburg in November 1857. KNSM then also started to sail to the Mediterranean. 1857 ended with a positive result of about 70,000 guilders. A mishap was that the Willem III was sunk in a collision with the French steamer Normandie in December 1857. The French courts ruled in favor of the KNSM, and the owners of the Normandie than abandoned her to the KNSM. She proved a good ship with 700 ton capacity and 180 hp engines, and was renamed Willem III. Even while freight prices were low, KNSM made solid profits in 1858 and 1859.
The Amsterdam Harburger Stoomboot Maatschappij was in big trouble by late 1859. Its management then made an attempt to restructure it by exchanging debt for shares. However, KNSM succeeded in buying so much of its debts, that it could thwart these plans. It next bought the Königin Maria of 300 ton for 33,000 guilders, and the George V of 200 ton for 28,000 guilders. However, both required serious repairs. Königin Maria was renamed Medea. The Van Vlissingen en Dudok van Heel shipyard then lengthened George V by 22 feet, and she was renamed Rubbens. Another major asset of the Harburg company was a building on the pier before the West-Indische Huis in the Oosterdok. KNSM bought it for 80,000 guilders, and so got a covered quay, where her ships could discharge without transloading on barges, like the competition had to do.
1862 was a bad year. Freight prices were very low. The Cycloop (ex-Charles l'Marc) was lost in the Baltic. She was replaced by buying the 800 ton Bonita, which was bought in Liverpool, and renamed Cycloop. Meanwhile, the Irene of 1,000 ton was ordered in Dumbarton for 22,000 GBP (264,000 guilders). These transactions were made possible by placing almost 500,000 guilders of 5% bonds. In 1863 KNSM and ASM came to another agreement. KNSM would not sail to Hamburg, and ASM would not sail directly to Stettin. The line to Königsberg would be shared. The next few years were very profitable.
Merger with De Maas The Rotterdamsche Stoomboot Reederij De Maas had also been founded in 1856. It had a share capital of 682,500 guilders and four steamships sailing to Marseille, Bristol and Cardiff. It had been a successful company, paying an average dividend of over 4.5%. However, in the Mediterranean it felt the competition of the KNSM. De Maas also lacked some of the advantages that larger shipping companies enjoyed. One of these was the ability to exchange ships, so the company could both provide a specific service and could employ most of its ships where they were most profitable.
KNSM therefore thought of merging with De Maas. This would also give KNSM the benefit of using the harbor of Rotterdam, especially for the trade with England. The KNSM therefore proposed to buy De Maas for 500,000 guilders in new KNSM shares. One director, and three supervisors from Rotterdam would join the board of KNSM. In 1865 the deal succeeded.
Further expansion
The merger with De Maas proved very successful. The bigger ships were especially successful. In her first two years of operation Irene, which had cost 264,000 guilders, earned 71,000 guilders and 73,000 guilders. It led to placing more shares, and to the order for Jason, a ship even bigger than Irene. In 1867 KNSM organized the foundation of the Amsterdamsche Rijn Stoomvaart Maatschappij. The idea was to improve the connections from Amsterdam to Germany and further up the Rhine.
In January 1867 the board proposed to place new bonds, expanding the company's debt from 250,000 to 500,000 guilders. The justification was that KNSM needed new ships, and these could now be bought cheaply, because too many had been built. The bonds were indeed used to acquire Orion of 800 ton and Astrea of 700 ton from a failing English shipping company. After this transaction, the only change in the fleet was the disappearance of Rubbens, which sank near Jutland in 1869. Even with this expansion of its fleet, the KNSM often had to charter other ships in order to handle the cargo that it was to transport.
Failed attempt to found a Transatlantic Line (1869–1882) Context While Dutch steam navigation soundly developed after 1850, this did not apply to steam navigation across the Atlantic. Here British and German companies expanded and made excellent profits, while Dutch exports to North America declined by 31% from 1857 to 1867. This was especially true for migrants to North America, who no longer travelled via Rotterdam, but chose to travel via Hamburg and Bremen.
In 1869 the navy officer Marin Henry Jansen brought the Transatlantic trade situation to the public attention in a brochure. He noted that the Netherlands had only a small part of the Transatlantic trade, even while the big rivers made the country very suitable for this trade. Jansen wanted to establish a line from Vlissingen (the best Dutch harbor at the time) to Norfolk, Virginia. The choice of Norfolk was due to the influence of Jansen's friend Matthew Fontaine Maury. Jansen proposed that the government would subsidize the line with 662.400 guilders a year.
Meanwhile, the Rotterdam shipping line owner Antoine Plate also started an initiative. This would later lead to the foundation of the Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij (NASM), later Holland America Line. Plate thought that a subsidy was not necessary for the project.
Several initiatives for transatlantic shipping In September 1869 the board of KNSM discussed the acquisition of four very large ships of almost 2,000 ton for the Mediterranean trade, and plans for Transatlantic shipping. It led to a plan to sell bonds for 5,000,000 guilders, which would have to be repaid in 25 years. In order to influence public opinion, the board published its views. The KNSM stated that the line would require ships so big that Amsterdam and Rotterdam could not be used as harbors. Vlissingen was preferable over Nieuwediep, but KNSM did not agree with the idea to sail to Norfolk instead of New York. KNSM also thought a state subsidy unnecessary.