Everything about Cp Ships totally explained
CP Ships was a large
Canadian container shipping company now part of
Hapag Lloyd since late 2005.
The company became an independent corporation in
2001 when it was demerged by conglomerate
Canadian Pacific Limited (CP) and is incorporated in
Saint John, New Brunswick but headquartered in
Gatwick,
United Kingdom. Its 82 ships were registered in a number countries including the UK,
Bermuda,
Liberia, and
Germany and most of the crews were Asian. Its primary ports remain Montreal and Vancouver.
Canadian Pacific Steamships
In 1884, the
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) began purchasing sailing ships as part of a
railway supply service on the
Great Lakes. In that same year, CPR received sufficient encouragement from talks with the British government in London that plans began to be formalized for establishing trans-Pacific steamship routes between Vancouver and the Far East.
Passenger services and holiday cruises
The Canadian Pacific Steamship Company (CPSC), one of the many shipping companies operating in and out of Liverpool, expanded as people emigrating from Europe to North America provided a larger number of passengers and the company also started holiday cruises. Like other shipping companies, CPSC built larger ships to cope with the demand.
In the late 19th century, CPR initiated an ocean-going service between the port of
Vancouver,
British Columbia and
Hong Kong, with calls at Japan and China, and later at Manila, Philippine Islands and Honolulu, Hawaii. This service provided a link for CPR's
transcontinental railroad passenger and freight services. During 1887, temporary steamship service was initiated on a Vancouver-Yokohama-Hong Kong route. From 1887 through 1941, the Canadian Pacific Railway provided steamship service between Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and Hong Kong with calls at Japan and China, and later at Manila, Philippine Islands and Honolulu, Hawaii. Three ships were built at Barrow-in-Furness in England, and the three sailed together towards Vancouver in 1890, with initial voyages projected for January 15th, February 15th, and March 15th of the new year. An 11-foot scale model of the ship was put on display in Canadian Pacific's New York offices. In an effort to lure American Chinese passengers to sail with CPR from North America to Shanghai and Hong Kong, prominent members of the Chinese community in New York were invited to examine the scale model and its amenities.
In 1887, steamship routes between Vancouver and Australia were initiated. Cunard sold three ships to CPR for the Australian route -- the SS
Abyssynia, the SS
Parthia, and the SS
Batavia.
Fleet expansion
In 1891, CPR and the British government reached agreement on a contract for subsidized mail service between Britain and Hong Kong via Canada. The route began to be serviced by three specially designed
Empress liners -- the
RMS Empress of China and the
RMS Empress of India. Each of these "Empress" steamships sailed regularly in the period from 1891 through 1912. In that year, the
Empress of China struck a reef near Tokyo, and she was subsequently towed to Yokohama where she was scrapped. The
Empress of India would continue in service through 1914. The third of the three original empresses, the
RMS Empress of Japan, sailed regularly from 1891 through 1922. These three ships and the others which comprised the "Empress fleet" carried mail, passengers, and freight speedily across the Pacific for over half a century.
In 1903 the company began operating ships between
Halifax, Nova Scotia and the
United Kingdom. Among their growing fleet was the ill-fated liner
RMS Empress of Ireland which sank in 1914 in the
Saint Lawrence River with the loss of 1,012 lives.
In 1915, the business had grown to the point where it was spun off into a separate entity formally known as the Canadian Pacific Steamships Ocean Services Ltd. Passenger services and holiday cruises
The new company acquired the successful
Allan Line and expanded to become a major international cargo carrier and operators of luxury
passenger liners such as the
Empress of Britain and the
Empress of Canada.
Like other shipping companies, Canadian Pacific provided ships to carry troops in both World Wars. In WWI, some ships were refitted as
Armed Merchant Cruisers. In WWII, the CP fleet carried over a million tons of cargo and a million troops and civilians during the Second World War.
In each of the post-war periods, the company sought to compensate for ships lost at sea by expanding its fleet.
Over time, the passenger steamship business changed. By the 1950s, rapidly growing competition from
airlines began to cut into the business and the company diversified into tanker fleets and bulk carriers.
The Canadian Pacific fleet expanded in bursts, responding to changed economic conditions and perceived changes in the market for passenger liner travel. The evolution of the CP fleet mirrors some of those developments. The dates of maiden voyages are indicated each ship's name.
CP Ships
In 1971, the company changed its name to CP Ships Ltd.
In 1984 it entered a joint venture with
Compagnie Maritime Belge called
Canada Maritime to secure North Atlantic container traffic for its rail facilities in Montreal. This "new" company prospered and the fortunes of CP Ships revived in the early 1990s and in 1993 Canadian Pacific bought out its partner in Canada Maritime, and that company was merged in CP Ships reviving the fleet. The next decade saw the company grow through acquisition. In April 1995 CP Ships purchased the
Cast Group out of a bankruptcy proceeding, and subsequently bought
Lykes Lines in July 1997 also out of bankruptcy,
Contship Containerlines in October 1997 at a profitable level,
Australia-New Zealand Direct Line in December 1998 also being profitable,
Ivaran Lines in May 1998 (unprofitable),
TMM Lines (unprofitable, 50 % in January 1999, rest 50 % in January 2000), in August 2000
Christensen Canadian African Lines (CCAL) at small profitability and
Italia Line in August 2002 at
breakeven business results. By 2001 it was the seventh largest carrier in the world, and dominated the North Atlantic. When it was spun off into a separate company it represented 8% of Canadian Pacific's revenues and was a source for a large portion of CPR's rail traffic - much originating from CP Ships' Montreal Gateway Terminals.
Soon after gaining its independence the company suffered from a general economic slowdown, however it recovered much faster than its competitors and returned to profitability in 2002. By 2004 the global shipping industry was booming, and consolidating, and CP became the target of a number of take over rumours.
During its independence, CP Ships operated its seven distinct brands (Ivaran and CCAL were not operated as brands after takeover but were absorbed into the Lykes brand) and used the slogan "Regional Focus, Global Scale." However, prior to being bought-out by Hapag Lloyd, CP Ships had already made the decision to get rid of the brand identities and operate solely with the CP Ships brand. For the CP Ships brand they'd mostly unlogoed (some had the flag on the back door but no wording) CPSU brown dry box containers as well as refrigerated containers.
TUI AG-Hapag-Lloyd
On
August 21, 2005,
German conglomerate TUI AG offered to acquire CP Ships Limited for
€1.7 billion (
US$2.0 billion) in cash, and merge it with TUI's
Hapag-Lloyd division.
On
August 30, 2005, Ship Acquisition Incorporated, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of TUI AG made a formal offer for 100% of CP Ships shares. The deal was approved by the boards of both CP Ships and TUI AG and was presented to CP Ships shareholders for approval.
(External Link
)
On
October 19, 2005 CP Ships and TUI AG jointly announced that 89.1% of CP Ships shareholders, representing 84,095,325 common shares, had accepted Ship Acquisition Inc.'s August 30 offer. The shares were to be taken up the following day
October 20, followed by payment of $21.50 USD per share on
October 25, 2005.
(External Link) Following the purchase and merger, TUI AG's combined Hapag-Lloyd and CP Ships fleet will comprise the fifth largest by capacity in the worldwide container shipping market.
International identifiers
SCAC codes
CP Ships (UK) Limited:
CPSU
CP Ships USA, LLC:
CPSP
Hapag-Lloyd:
HLCU and
HLXU
Operator Codes
CP Ships (UK) Limited:
CPS
CP Ships USA, LLC:
CPP
Hapag-Lloyd:
HLL
9000 Series Codes
Hapag-Lloyd:
9529
BIC Codes
CP Ships:
CPSU
Hapag-Lloyd:
HLCU,
HLXU
ex Australian New Zealand Direct Line:
AZLU
ex CAST Line:
CASU
ex Canada Maritime:
CMUU
ex
Contship Containerlines:
CSQU,
HAMU,
PLVU,
CLGU,
TLEU,
PSBU,
PCRU,
FANU (Fantainer)
ex Federacion Maritima:
FMGU
ex
Ivaran Lines:
IVLU
ex
Italia Line:
ITAU
ex Lykes Lines:
LYKU
ex Tecomar:
TEMU
ex Transportacion Martima Mexicana:
TMMU
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cp Ships'.
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