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Member Profile: Holland America |
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Written On: May/June 2006 |
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Written By: by Paul Schlienz |
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The Holland America Line is a key component in Seattle's growing importance as a cruise ship port. With a colorful history and more than 130 years of experience, Holland America is one of the world's most important cruise ship lines and a dominant presence in the industry’s premium segment. The company's 16 ships and nearly 500 cruises sail to all seven continents and more than 280 ports of call from more than 25 homeports.
Holland America's enormous reach includes Seattle to Alaska cruises, Caribbean excursions, South Pacific adventures, Mediterranean itineraries, and much, much more. Incredibly, over the course of its many years of service, Holland America has carried more than 10 million passengers.
"If you are looking for some of the most spacious and comfortable ships at sea, award-winning service, five-star dining, extensive activities and enrichment programs, and compelling worldwide itineraries, you've come to the right place," Holland America CEO Stein Kruse says of his company. "We offer our guests a distinctive journey wherever they choose to travel."
Old World Roots
Although the line's headquarters are in Seattle, its roots lie firmly in the Old World. Indeed, Holland America began its long life in 1872, when its first ship, the Rotterdam, named after the great Dutch port city, made a 15-day voyage from the Netherlands to New York. In 1873, the company was incorporated as the Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvart Maatschappij (Netherlands-American Steamship Company or NASM) and headquartered in Rotterdam.
In its early years, the company focused on cargo and passenger shipping. This was the golden era of transatlantic shipping, when steamship lines were the only transportation link between Europe and North America. These shipping lines carried goods, mail and scores of immigrants from Europe to the New World. For its part, NASM, which officially changed its name to the Holland Amerika Lijn in 1896, carried 850,000 European immigrants — fully 10 percent of the total westward migration from Europe — to new lives in North America.
The company grew rapidly in this environment. By 1897, Holland America owned a fleet of six cargo and passenger ships, and had purchased its own terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey. At this point, it had carried 90,000 cabin passengers, 400,000 steerage passengers, and 5 million tons of cargo, including large amounts of flower bulbs and herring, two of the Netherlands’ most important exports.
Holland America's global reach was expanding, too. In addition to its niche in the transatlantic market, the company also provided service between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies through the Suez Canal, and even offered a short-lived service between New York and Buenos Aries.
The company was also beginning to make early steps into the vacation cruises that would ultimately become its specialty before such a market even existed. In 1895, it offered its first pleasure cruise from the Netherlands to Copenhagen and back on the 3,300-ton Rotterdam II. Holland America's second vacation cruise, in 1910, from New York to the Holy Land and back on the 10,500-ton Statendam I, was far more ambitious.
Surviving Two World Wars
World War I and the German U-boats that prowled beneath the sea to sink Allied craft had a profoundly negative impact on the transatlantic lines shipping trade. Six Holland America ships and 13 employees were lost in the war. In addition, Holland America's Statendam II was taken over by the British government, while it was still in its Belfast building yard, for use as a troop ship. Rechristened the Justicia, it, too, was torpedoed and sunk by the Germans in 1918.
Although Holland America was able to resume business after the war, the 1920s was a difficult decade for transatlantic shipping. U.S. governmental restrictions, enacted in 1924, reduced European immigration to a tiny fraction of what it had been prior to World War I, adversely affecting all of the shipping lines.
Nevertheless, there were also opportunities. In 1921, Holland America built four new passenger/cargo ships for service between the United States and Cuba. Meanwhile, Prohibition unintentionally boosted the fortunes of European passenger lines, like Holland America, since they were not bound by the U. S. laws that banned alcoholic beverages both on American soil and U.S. flagged ships. As a result, American lines lost a tremendous amount of passenger business to their European competitors.
In 1926, Holland America's 14,450-ton Veendam II sailed on the company's first Caribbean cruise. That same year, the Rijndam I made the company’s first round-the-world voyage as a floating university. In the meantime, Holland America showed its innovative side by starting to use containers for shipping furniture and all other non-bulk cargo.
The Great Depression hit the company hard. Twelve ships were sold for scrap. Thirty-four percent of Holland America's staff was laid off while those who remained took a 9 percent to 10 percent pay cut as the company closed offices throughout Europe and North America in a bid to downsize and survive.
By 1938, economic conditions had improved to the point that Holland America became profitable again. Transatlantic business was good, 36 vacation cruises sailed, and the elegant Nieuw Amsterdam II was built as the company's flagship.
Then, in 1939, World War II changed everything. Holland America gave strong support to the Allies during the war, and chartered all of its ships for use by the Dutch, British and U.S. governments. The Nieuw Amsterdam alone sailed 500,000 miles, transporting 400,000 military personnel. In the meantime, the Westernland, berthed at Falmouth, England, became the seat of the Dutch government-in-exile.
Only nine of Holland America's 25 ships survived the war. Sadly, 264 employees were also lost to German U-boats.
North to Alaska
The company bounced back in the post-war era, but big changes were on the horizon. In 1958, the first jet aircraft crossed the Atlantic. By 1965, airlines were carrying 95 percent of all transatlantic passengers. The old era of transatlantic travel was over, killed by the speed and convenience of aviation.
Holland America discontinued its transatlantic passenger service in 1971, and sold its cargo division in 1975. Thereafter the line focused on the growing vacation cruise market, which it had pioneered.
After buying a controlling interest in the Seattle-based Alaskan tour company, Westours, Holland America's Prinsendam embarked on its first cruise of Alaska's beautiful Inside Passage in 1975. While Holland America operated the ships, Westours provided chartered surface transportation to attractions near such ports of call as Skagway, Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan.
Alaska became an important and profitable destination for the company. Reflecting Alaska's importance, Holland America moved its headquarters, which had been in Stamford, Conn., since 1978, to Seattle, in 1983, so it could further consolidate its operations with Westours.
Today 1,600 of Holland America's 15,000 employees are based in Seattle. In addition to being the company’s headquarters, it is the homeport for its Alaska cruises.
With 124,000 passengers expected to sail on Holland America's Alaska cruises from Seattle during 2006, the company's economic impact is enormous. According to its own estimates, Holland America will bring $203,112,090 to Washington this year. This includes direct spending by the company and the money spent by crew and passengers during their stays in Seattle.
More is to come. This summer the company will increase the number of Alaska cruises by homeporting a third ship in Seattle.
"Our expanded capacity in Seattle brings even more opportunity for local businesses to work with us," Kruse remarked.
Indeed, Holland America's future potential and its positive impact on the local economy appear to be as limitless as the sea its crews know so well. So long as people dream of seeing the world in comfort and style, there will always be a place for Holland America.
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