Indo-China Steam Navigation Company

With the advent of steam engines, the British trading house Jardine, Matheson & Co. Concerned that his clippers might lose their former advantage in shipping. As a result, since the mid-1850s, Jardine, Matheson & Co. seriously engaged in the development of shipping lines, especially between Bengal and South China. The company's steamships made regular flights between Calcutta and Hong Kong , and also sometimes visited ports in Japan. In 1873, Jardine, Matheson & Co. created a subsidiary shipping company China Coast Steam Navigation Company, whose vessels connected the ports of China and Japan. Later, a subsidiary river shipping company Yangtze Steamer Company ^{[2] [3] was created} .

In 1877, Jardine, Matheson & Co. merged several of its local shipping lines into a single Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, which absorbed the vessels of the former China Coast Steam Navigation Company. In 1881, the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company changed the type of legal entity and entered the London Stock Exchange with a capital of 449,800 pounds (many sources indicate precisely 1881 as the date of the formal founding of the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company). Cargo ships of the new company went from Hong Kong to the ports of East China and Japan, along the Yangtze River , as well as to Calcutta, Singapore and Vladivostok ^{[4] [2] [5] [6]} .

Indo-China Steam Navigation Company waged a fierce battle with its competitors. In 1882, agreements were reached on quotas for transportation in the Yangtze: Indo-China Steam Navigation Company received 20% of all flights, and Butterfield & Swire - 38%. In the same year, quotas were set for transportation between Shanghai and Tianjin : Indo-China Steam Navigation Company and Butterfield & Swire received 28% each ^[7] . In 1885, the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company opened a regular line between Hong Kong and Manila. ^[2]

By 1893, the fleet of Indo-China Steam Navigation Company numbered 22 steamships ^[4] . At the beginning of the 20th century, more than half of all ships on the Yangtze River belonged to the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company and its main competitor, Butterfield & Swire. By the early 1920s, British investment in the Yangtze Valley, including Shanghai, exceeded £ 200 million (this was almost equal to the amount of investment in huge British India and significantly exceeded British investment in Africa) ^[8] .

World War II destroyed Indo-China Steam Navigation Company trade links along the Yangtze River and between the ports of China, Japan and Australia. In January 1943, a New Sino-British Agreement was signed in Chongqing , according to which British subjects renounced extraterritorial rights in China. This agreement ended the British privileges in trading over the Yangtze and between Chinese coastal ports, after which ICSNC focused on relations with Australia ^[2] .

By the end of 1955, the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company ceased regular passenger traffic between the ports of the Far East, the Malay Peninsula and the Bay of Bengal, but retained lines to Australia and New Zealand. In the 1960s, Indo-China Steam Navigation Company ships connected Hong Kong with Brisbane , Sydney , Melbourne , Adelaide , Auckland and Wellington ^[9] .

In the 1970s, increased competition from Indian and Japanese companies led to the liquidation of the London branch of the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company in 1974. The company's Hong Kong assets were included in the Wah Kwong Group bulk carrier fleet, as well as in the container fleet of the Norwegian-Swiss holding Gearbulk ^[2] .

On July 16, 1904, the SS Hip Sang cargo ship with a displacement of 1,659 tons was lost, which transported food from Nuzhuang to Chifu . It was torpedoed by the Russian torpedo boat " Quick " west of the Kwantung Peninsula after refusing to stop ^[10] .

On January 21, 1942, the Japanese submarine sank the SS Chak Sang cargo and passenger ship in the western part of Moutama Bay, killing five crew members ^{[11] [12]} .

At the end of October and November 12, 1957, Indian customs officers ransacked the Eastern Saga , which arrived at the port of Calcutta from the Far East. In one of the sailors' cabins, 1,548 contraband ingots of gold were found behind the skin. Indian authorities confiscated the ship and the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company was forced to pay a large fine to return it. ^[13]

• Ivanov P.M. Hong Kong. History and modernity. - Moscow: “Science”, Main Edition of Oriental Literature, 1990. - ISBN 5-02-016958-7 .

• History jardine matheson