P&O During the World Wars
At the occurrence of war, the tonnage of the P&O fleet was beyond 1.1 million grt. Over 500,000 grt were lost during aggressions, but by the conclusion of the war the P&O fleet endured at over 1.5 million grt. This expansion was accomplished by a highly insistent scheme of acquisition to ready P&O for the postwar age.
In 1916 P&O took over New Zealand Shipping Company and Federal Steam Navigation Company, a leader in the frozen food trade from New Zealand to the UK. In 1917 it took over interests in the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand. It also took over the Hain Steamship Company, which had global tramping interests, and James Nourse Ltd., which ran between the West Indies and India. P&O purchased the Orient Line in 1918 and the Khedivial Mail Line in 1919. In 1929 P&O purchased Britain’s most experienced steamship company, the General Steamship Navigation Company, established in 1824. As the year 1923 came along, the P&O fleet already comprised of 500 vessels (when the company purchased Strick Line).
The first decade after the war was highly successful for P&O. For instance, the war had produced an accumulation of trade, passenger traffic flourished in a short period of time, and emigration from Britain, New Zealand and Australia was at a record high. The expansion of overseas competition was undoing the hold of British ships in several markets, however. Constructing and management expenses were soaring, and there was a ship surplus. These difficulties were aggravated by the civil war in China, which negatively affected P&O’s trade, and the Wall Street crash in 1929, which was a precursor of the beginning of the Great Depression in the 1930’s. P&O faced extreme financial troubles, requiring salary cuts of 10 percent in 1931. The following year P&O had no more means to pay a dividend to its shareholders.
Alexander Shaw succeeded as chairman in 1932. He was Lord Inchape’s son-in-law, and inherited a new fleet with which to face and handle the crisis effectively. This fleet included the leading vessel of the time, which was the 20,000-ton Viceroy of India. This ship produced much less noise compared with its previous models, journeyed at 19 knots, and provided a new kind of comfort and extravagance to ocean travel, including the very first swimming pool (within a vessel).
During the 1930s, global politics once again disturbed the merchant shipping market. In 1935, after Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia, 9 BI ships were called for to sustain League of Nations endorsements. In 1937, Japan started 8 years of undeclared war against China. These occurrences, in addition to the progressive improbabilities in Europe,
As the 1930s progressed, international politics again disrupted the merchant shipping market. In 1935, following Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia, nine BI ships were left a mess in supplies and routes. Regardless, business got back on its feet and Alexander Shaw, now referred to as Lord Craigmyle, retired in 1938, 2 years following the refurbishment of the company’s dividend.
Sir William Crawford Currie later took over and stayed as chairman until 1960. World War II started, and the Rawalpindi was requisitioned in August of 1939, only to be missing after 3 months. The rate of requisitioning picked up, and in 1940 all 103 ships of BI were under official management. P&O offered 16 troop carriers, which moved over a million troops during the war.
In 1939 the fleet of the P&O group comprised of 371 vessels, summing up to 2.2 million grt. During the event of the war, 182 vessels, equal to 1.2 million grt, were ruined. P&O had over 40 percent of its fleet lost, in tonnage terms. Hain had 24 of its cargo vessels gone, Nourse 7 and BI 45. Moreover, a quarter of Union Line and 85 percent of Strick Line were lost.
