History
200 YEARS OF COMBINED SHIPPING EXPERIENCE
A COMPANY FOUNDED IN A BOOM
Reederei Blue Star’s shipping activity goes back to the early 20th century when in 1911 William and Edmund Vestey founded the company in London. Initially the company, which first name was ‘Blue Star Line Ltd.’, was aiming to operate reefer vessels to transport meat produced by their South American farms to their cold-storage plants in Europe. In the two years preceding the outbreak of World War I, four reefer ships were registered under the flag of Blue Star Line in the Lloyds Register of Shipping for the year 1912/1913. The brothers had actually started their shipping operation with three ships in 1911, and expanded their activities. They were not only transporting meat but bringing eggs and other perishable goods from China to England.
During the war the Blue Star Line had already a dozen of ships at its disposal that were making considerable profits – for good reason: they had been commissioned by the British War Office to transport meat shipments to supply the Allied Forces’ troops in France.
DIVERSIFYING THE FLEET
After the war, from 1920 on, the Blue Star Line first started to give their ships names that hinted at ther identity. The first freighters to be granted this privilege were the “Albion Star” and the “Royal Star”. At this point the company’s entire fleet consisted of 15 ships. Although economic recovery, both in Europe and the USA, was hesitant after the war, the Blue Star Line experienced a new upswing thanks to its diversification strategy. William Vestey had decided to get into cruise business, a branch that began to flourish in the twenties. At the same time, however, all these steamers were equipped with extensive reefer facilities and thus remained loyal to the Blue Star Line’s core business. In addition, a regular mail and parcel service to South America was established within just a year.
THE DEVASTATING OUTCOME OF WORLD WAR II AND A SUCCESFUL REBUILDING OF THE FLEET
In 1939 the company extended its fleet further to 38 ships but only when the European nations found themselves unable to prevent the catastrophe of World War II the shipping line was pulled into the whirl of events. In 1943 a considerable part of the fleet had to be written off as total wreck. The end of the war meant the necessity of a difficult rebuilding process. Construction of new ships was a limited possibility thus Blue Star Line began purchasing used tonnage. Thanks to its intense investment spurts the shipping company soon managed to have more than 40 ships in operation again.
One of the strengths of the Blue Star managers was their ability to adapt to the constantly changing global conditions: they responded to the demand for special transport capacities by building new freight ships that were amongst the most modern of their day. In order to strengthen its involvement in shipping the company in addition ordered a series of new ships. In 1974 Blue Star Line became also involved in the heavy cargo sector. Together with the Hamburg shipping company Rob. Sloman Jr. they founded Starman Ltd.
RENAISSANCE OF A TRADITIONAL BRAND AND STEERING TOWARDS THE FUTURE
In 1998 P&O Nedlloyd took over all the shipping line's assets and in early January 2002 the rebirth of the company was initiated in Hamburg. The shipping line which, although had never ceased to exist, had nevertheless undergone a fundamental change in terms of its identity and “family affiliation”: the British Blue Star Line had been transformed into the German Reederei Blue Star. Although this transformation did not take a direct path, it was nonetheless the result of the rapidly completed process that began in 1998.
In 2005 A.P. Møller Mærsk acquired P&O Nedlloyd and thus Reederei Blue Star became part of the biggest shipping line worldwide. At that time Reederei Blue Star managed a vast fleet of modern sub- to post-panamax container vessels.
Some years later, in 2009, the Komrowski Group took over the management of Reederei Blue Star. This integration has broadened the company’s managed vessel portfolio by adding feeder type container-, bulk- and multi purpose / heavy lift carriers. Since 2010, the Group is ranked among the top 15 non-operating owners within the container vessel segment worldwide.
Today, besides the overall support for the Blue Star’s managed fleet, the company has a strong global network to render services wherever needed by combining all sorts of activities surrounding the shipping industry making the Group a ‘one-stop-shop’.
