Indo-China Steam Navigation Company
Masthead of the Indo-China Steam Navigation Co., Ltd
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| Passenger / cargo shipping line | |
| Fate | Liquidated, 1974 |
| Founded | 1873 |
| Founder | Jardine, Matheson & Co. |
| Defunct | 1974 |
| Headquarters | Hong Kong, British Empire |
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Area served
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Eastern Pacific |
The Indo-China Steam Navigation Company Ltd. (ICSNC), was established in 1873 as a subsidiary of Hong Kong based Jardine, Matheson & Co., one of the largest trading companies in the Far East at that time.
With the advent of steam, Jardines became concerned that it might lose its former advantage in operating fast clippers. As a result, the company became seriously involved in steamships in the mid-1850s servicing the Bengal – China trade. Regular services up and down the coast, with occasional diversions to Japan, were implemented around the same time. Jardines established the China Coast Steam Navigation Co. (CCSNC) in 1873, which operated between Chinese ports and Japan. ICSNC was floated on the in 1881 with a capital of £449,800 The new company amalgamated the group's river, coastal and cargo interests, taking over CCSNC’s coastal fleet and sending ships to Singapore, Calcutta and Vladivostok. In 1885, a new service from Hong Kong to Manila began operating.
In the early 20th century, more than half of all the ships on the Yangtze River were owned by ICSNC and their arch rivals Butterfield and Swire. British investment in the Yangtze Valley, including Shanghai, had reached over £200,000,000 by the 1920s. This was almost equal to the amount invested in the whole of British India at that time, and significantly more than British investments in Africa.
Trade flourished until the end of the Second World War when the 1943 British–Chinese Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China shut down the Yangtze River trade and routes between the Chinese coastal ports. In response, ICSNC diversified into the China — Australia trade.
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