Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland
Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland was a Dutch ferry operator that ran services from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom between 1875 and 1989.
History
The Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland was founded in June 1875 and opened a service from Vlissingen to Sheerness in Kent on July 26 of that year. However, poor support led to the service being suspended for the following winter and re-opened on May 15, 1876 to nearby Queenborough.The service was temporarily transferred to Dover in 1882 following a fire at the Queenborough pier.
At the request of the Dutch postal authorities the service was doubled in 1887 but the service suffered further disruption in 1897 due to flooding of the railway to Queenborough and another fire at the pier in 1900.
During this period, competition from the Great Eastern Railway's services to Harwich had grown and forced the company to invest in 3 new vessels from Fairfields of Govan.
In 1911 further new tonnage was introduced and they were placed on a service to Folkestone leaving older paddle steamers to service Queenborough, but as they were retired the operation to that port was ended.
At the outbreak of war in 1914 the service was switched to Tilbury, and following the war in January 1919 a daylight service was introduced to Gravesend.
In 1927 an agreement was reached with the London and North Eastern Railway to switch the service to Harwich, and that agreement was further enhanced in 1946 after World War II when services were moved to the Hook of Holland, the company's facilities at Flushing having been destroyed during the hostilities.
A secondary service from Vlissingen to Folkestone was introduced in 1949 but lasted only three seasons.
In the meantime, British Railways had taken over from the LNER at Harwich in 1948 and the service evolved to a full co-operation, the two companies providing the night and day services respectively employing four ships plus two relief vessels.
In 1968 with the introduction of car ferries, the SMZ and Sealink services were fully amalgamated.
In 1988 the Dutch government announced their intention to sell their 70 per cent holding in SMZ and in preparation the services were rebranded as Crown Line the following year. Bidders included Sealink British Ferries, Nedlloyd (part owners of North Sea Ferries and Johnson Line (owners of Sally Line, but ultimately it was the Swedish ferry operator Stena Line who acquired SMZ in June 1989. Stena rebranded the service under their name and withdrew SMZ from the Sealink consortium.
The following year Stena Line also acquired SMZ's UK partner Sealink. The Harwich operations of Sealink were transferred to Stena Line BV.
Fleet
Passenger ships
- PS Stad Middleburg - renamed Aurora in 1881 - Sold 1888.
- PS Stad Vlissingen - Lost 1879.
- PS Stad Breda - Broken up 1888.
- PS Prinses Elisabeth - Sold 1898 to Swedish interests.
- PS Prinses Marie - Sold 1898 to German interests.
- PS Prins Hendrik - Sold in 1902 to German interests for breaking up.
- PS Willem Prins Van Orange - Broken up 1909.
- PS Duitschland - renamed Zeeland in 1914 - Broken up 1922.
- PS Engeland - Broken up 1910.
- PS Nederland - Broken up 1910.
- PS Koningin Wilhelmina - Lost in 1916 after hitting a mine.
- PS Konigin Regentes - Torpedoed and lost in 1918.
- PS Prins Hendrick - Broken up in 1922.
- SS Prinses Juliana - Hit a mine and subsequently broke up in 1916.
- SS Oranje Nassau - Broken up 1952.
- SS Mecklenburg - Sank 1916 after hitting a mine.
- SS Prinses Juliana - Broke up on beach following bombing 1940.
- SS Mecklenburg - Broken up 1960.
- MS Prinses Beatrix - Broken up 1968.
- MS Koningin Emma - Broken up 1968.
- MS Koningin Wilhelmina - sold to Ventouris Ferries in 1978 for further service in Greece.
Car ferries
- MS Koningin Juliana - sold to Moby Lines in 1985.
- MS Zeeland - Chartered 1984 - 1986 from Larvik Line where named Peter Wessel.
- MS Prinses Beatrix - sold to Brittany Ferries in 1985.
- MS Koningin Beatrix - sold to Stena Line BV in 1988.