 | |
 | |
| Company type | ship owner and ship operator |
|---|---|
| Industry | transport |
| Founded | 1856 |
| Defunct | 1972 |
| Successor | P&O |
| Products | passenger and cargo shipping |
| Parent | P&O (1914 onwards) |
| Website | http://www.poheritage.com/our-history/company-guides/british-india-steam-navigation-company |
British India Steam Navigation Company ("BI") was formed in 1856 as theCalcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company.
TheCalcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading partnership of theScotsWilliam Mackinnon andRobert Mackenzie, to carry mail betweenCalcutta andRangoon. It became British India SN Co in 1862. Under the hand ofLord Inchcape, who had become chairman in 1913, the company became part of theP&O group of companies in 1914 through a complexamalgamation, but continued with its own identity and organisation for another nearly 60 years until 1972, when it was entirely absorbed into P&O. P&O was eventually sold to Emirati logistics companyDP World in 2006.
As one of the largest shipowners of all time, the company owned more than 500 ships and managed 150 more for other owners. At its height in 1922, BI had more than 160 ships in the fleet, many built onClydeside,Scotland. The main shipping routes of the line were:Britain toIndia,Australia,Kenya,Tanganyika. The company ran services from India toPakistan,Ceylon,Bay of Bengal,Singapore,Malaya,Java,Thailand,Japan,Persian Gulf,East Africa andSouth Africa. BI had a long history of service to the British and Indian governments through trooping and other military contracts. In the last decade of its operational existence BI carried thousands of school children on educational cruises.
Mantola was sunk in February 1917 by a torpedo from a Germansubmarine off the coast ofIreland with a substantial cargo of silver bullion.
The cargo shipGairsoppa, carryingsilver bullion,pig iron and tea, which was sunk at great depth by theGerman submarine U-101 in February 1941 some 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) southwest ofGalway Bay, Ireland, carried the richest cargo of any sunken ship in world history.[1]
Some of the company's better known passenger ships includedRajula,Dunera,Scindia,Sirdhana,Leicestershire,Dwarka,Dumra, the sister shipsKampala andKaranja, andKenya andUganda, andDara, which was sunk by a terrorist bomb in 1961.
Nevasa of 1956 was the final passenger ship built for BI. Serving as atroopship until redundant in 1962,Nevasa was assigned new duties with the BI educationalcruise ship flotilla until 1974, when she became uneconomic[2] due a four fold increase in crude oil prices and was scrapped in 1975 having earlier been joined in this trade by the more economicUganda. The highly popularUganda was taken up (STUFT) by the BritishMinistry of Defence in 1982 as ahospital ship during theFalklands War withArgentina. Returning to BI's tradition of government service again in 1983 – this time as a troopship –Uganda was "the last BI" when finally withdrawn in 1985.Dwarka holds the distinction of closing British-India's true "liner" services, when withdrawn from the company'sPersian Gulf local trades in 1982, in her 35th year.
Source:[3]
| Parent company |  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divisions and subsidiaries |
| ||||
| Acquisitions | |||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
