A FAREWELL TO BLUE STAR REEFER TRADING. 

 

 

 

In 1998 Blue Star Line Ltd and its associated Liner Operations were acquired by P&O Nedlloyd, thus ending almost 90 years of trading in this field including throughout two World Wars. However, the Reefer Trading/Star Reefers business continued as a separate entity within the Vestey Group.

 

After the war in 1945 the Group had continued to be engaged in Liner operations to South America, Australia, New Zealand, U.S.A. and South Africa, but in the 1950's started to diversify. Over the next 30 years among the successful ventures were Calmedia Line out of Genoa, transportation of heavy lifts including Starman , Star Offshore Services in the North Sea, the profitable meat trades from Australia & New Zealand to the U.S.A., Bridge Line and the service from Australia & New Zealand to the Arabian Gulf and, of course, the revolutionary move into containerisation and the various consortia.

 

Although not as complex, "revolutionary' or as capital intensive as containerisation the Reefer Trading development was probably the most diverse.

 

In the 1960's banana vessels, largely Scandinavian were encroaching upon the Group's refrigerated liner trades and while their vessels could carry meat and deciduous and citrus fruit we could not carry bananas. Therefore Blue Star together with Port Line (trading together as Blueport) decided to expand into the worldwide reefer trades with specialised vessels. Port Line, then owned by Trafalgar House, later decided to withdraw and Blue Star proceeded alone.

In 1973 three vessels, America Star, New York Star and  Halifax Star  were lengthened and converted at Sandefiord in Norway and 1974 saw the arrival of six new buildings headed by the Afric Star. Five were built at Smiths Dock and one at Nakskov in Denmark. This vessel, the Avila Star , had an interesting beginning. She was launched by Mrs. V.T. Woodcock, wife of our Chief Accountant in New Zealand - her name having been taken out of a hat - and 120 staff were flown to Denmark for the occasion. Another, the Andalusia Star , was shown off in the Pool of London prior to her maiden voyage and even The Lord Mayor carried out an inspection.

 

The initial banana cargo was from the Noboa Group in Ecuador, who became one of our regular customers. Intensive marketing continued apace and the business grew rapidly encompassing most of the World's refrigerated trades; at one point a significant venture was the carriage of both bananas and meat to Iran.

 

New purchases and charters increased the fleet, and in 1985 four new vessels were built at Harland & Wolff in Belfast. At that time, also, four new Japanese vessels were taken on long- term lease. The Company also tried to build in China but that fell through.

 

Someone once calculated that by combining our Container investments and our Reefer Trading vessels Blue Star had become the largest refrigerated shipping company in the world, just ahead of the P&O, but this was never tested.

 

From the outset the business was managed by the late Ron Glover who oversaw the initial developments and all the expansion until his retirement in 1988. He was succeeded by Emlo Falsetti and during his tenure we secured a strong position in the Colombian banana trades and this business continues. Blue Star also decided to join forces with the reefer division of the German Hamburg-Sud Group, the, combined entity being named Star Reefers and operated out of London.

 

Kevin Harding took over in 1993 and encountered a period of particularly tough trading but the business continued to expand with new purchases and charters; new developments included citrus from Australia to U.S.A. and bananas from Ecuador to the Mediterranean. Eventually Blue Star took over the minority interest of Hamburg Sud. During it's time Blue Star/Star Reefers has carried refrigerated cargoes of every imaginable kind to and from almost everywhere.

 

In July 2001 the Group announced that Star Reefers, operating a fleet of 24 ships had been sold to Norwegian Owners. The business would continue to be managed from London with the staff transferring over. The Norwegian Owners have since forged a joint operation with the Japanese NYK Group, and a new company, NYK Star Reefers Ltd., under the Chairmanship of David Habgood, now controls a fleet of 74 vessels.

During it's 90 years of trading Blue Star became known world wide for the quality of it's ships and services and perhaps above all for it's funnel. 40 years ago Lord Sanderson, Chairman of Shaw Savill once remarked that of all the flashy ships and funnels around the world Blue Star's were the best; patronising, perhaps, but kindly meant. One of the biggest banana customers used to say that he preferred his cargoes to be in Blue Star vessels because of the calibre of the Officers and Crew - a priceless asset.

 

Some ten years ago, after one of the containership shareholding restructurings, the Managing Director of the P&O inspected a large container vessel transferred to them by Blue Star said that he had never seen a vessel in better condition and presented a painting to the Directors of Blue Star in tribute.

 

Lastly, in November 2001, Lloyds List reported that the former  Afric Star  had sailed on her final demolition voyage. She was the first vessel custom built in 1974 for the Blue Star world wide Reefer Trades and had been launched by the wife of the then Chairman of the South African Deciduous Fruit Board whose exports are, still carried by the new Norwegian Owners. This final voyage symbolises the bringing to a close of one the Group's largest diversifications since the last war.

 

The end of an era indeed.

 

Courtesy of the Vestey Group Shipping Association December 2001