Holland America Line
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Transportation |
| Founded | 1873 as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company |
| Headquarters | Seattle, United States |
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Key people
|
Stein Kruse (Chief Executive Officer, Holland America Group) Orlando Ashford (President) |
| Products | Cruises |
| Parent | Carnival Corporation & plc |
| Website | HollandAmerica.com |
Holland America Line is an American/British owned cruise line; a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Originating in the Netherlands, the company is now based in Seattle, United States.
From 1873 to 1989, it was a Dutch shipping line, a passenger line, a cargo line and a cruise line operating primarily between the Netherlands and North America. As part of this rich legacy, it was instrumental in the transport of many hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Netherlands to North America.
Holland America Line was founded in 1873 as the Nederlandsche-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij (Dutch-American Steamship Company), a shipping and passenger line. It was headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and provided service to the Americas. The company was formed as a result of the reorganization of an earlier company, Plate, Reuchlin & Co. The company's first ship was the original Rotterdam, which sailed its 15-day maiden voyage from the Netherlands to New York City on October 15, 1872. Other services were started to other new world ports, including Hoboken, Baltimore and South America. Cargo service to New York started in 1899.
During the first 25 years the company carried 400,000 people from Europe to the Americas. Other North American ports were added during the early 20th century.
Though transportation and shipping were the primary sources of revenue, in 1895 HAL offered its first vacation cruise. Its second vacation cruise, from New York to Palestine, was first offered in 1910.
One notable ship was the elegant 36,000 gross ton SS Nieuw Amsterdam of 1937, it and the RMS Queen Mary being the only two liners built in the 1930s to make a profit.
At the start of the Second World War, HAL had 25 ships; nine remained at war's end. At the beginning of the war, the Westernland acquired from the Red Star Line in 1939, berthed at Falmouth, England, became the seat of the Dutch government. The Nieuw Amsterdam sailed half a million miles transporting 400,000 military personnel. After the war, the cruise line was instrumental in transporting a massive wave of immigrants from the Netherlands to Canada and elsewhere.
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Wikipedia