Vintage NV Vereenigde Holland Afrika Shipping Line Trinket Dish, Ashtray

VNS (Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaartmaatschappij) 

Rare object !

Made by Marion Tegel - Holland

Copper body with ceramic hand-painted centre, with house flag

Dated around 1930's

12.5cm diameter x 4.5cm

Good used condition for age, with only superficial wear and tarnishing plus, there is a small and not particularly noticeable hairline crack near the ‘K’, on Afrika, but sound and insignificant.

At the conclusion of WWI (1918) for Dutch Shipping Companies it was a time of optimism, mostly because of the demise of German Shipping Companies from the seas and the demand for shipping tonnage was now in great need. Some directors of Dutch Shipping Companies made a decision to commence a new company to fill the gap that was left by the Germans especially by the “German East Africa Line.”

Thus on April 30, 1920 the “N.V. Vereenigde Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Maatschappij - (V.N.S.) Den Haag, was founded by ten major Dutch shipping companies with a capital of 200 million Dutch guilders. VNS took over and soon thereafter the new “Holland West Africa Line” was founded in conjunction with the “Hollandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij” (HSM) and “Koninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd” (KHL).

Due to the building of new ships being extremely expensive after WWI, VNS with permission from Britain, acquired 17 German ships which had been allocated to the UK as war reparations from Germany and in 1921 when the export of the ships was allowed by the British Government, 14 ships went to the VNS and 3 to the associated KNSM. In 1919 the “Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij” (NZASM) was founded with financial support from the Dutch Government for five years, to start a connection to South Africa as the “Holland South Africa Line.” In 1924 the NZASM and the VNS combined the Holland-East Asia and the Holland South Africa Line under a new name; the “Holland Africa Line.”

In 1932 the NZASM went into liquidation and the VNS took over their fleet and goodwill. Three new ships were commenced in construction just before WW2, but sadly, VNS lost eleven ships during the War. After the war a programme was commenced to build new ships to replace their losses. In due course, the once very successful passenger service declined in the sixties due to the arrival of cheaper air fares, and the rapid change in cargo handling with containerisation taking over. On top of all that, there were also political problems in some African countries. Due to this, in 1967 this caused the sale of the wonderful M.S. Oranjefontein and Jagersfontein, and replaced them with fast all-cargo ships due to the change towards containerisation being simply too costly for one company. Then VNS announced in 1969 a merger as the “Nederlandse Scheepvaart Unie” (NSU) and took over all of the Dutch lines within the group and soon they all came under the one name “Nedlloyd,” then later “Koninklijke Nedlloyd Group,” “P&O Nedlloyd Container Line,” and today it remains the “Maersk Lines.”

Box 47