The “Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij” (KPM), founded in 1888, had its headquarters in Amsterdam, but the most important operating base was in Batavia in Dutch India, nowadays known as Jakarta in Indonesia.
KPM’s vessels mainly circulated between the isles of Dutch India, transporting passengers and cargo.
From 1906 on, the route net accrued by the addition of new nearby destinations. These lines, such as for example the “Java Australije Lijn” , the “Java-Siam Lijn” , and the “Deli-Straits-China Lijn”, had their own names, and yet they all belonged to the umbrella company “KPM line”.
KPM had become one of the Netherlands’ biggest shipping companies in the years from 1918 to 1939. However, in the Second World War, KPM suffered heavy losses. So the company merged with the “Java-China-Japan Lijn” (JCJL) in 1948.
When Indonesia became independent, some of the company’s assets were nationalized; but the remaining ships started operating anew, from Singapore in 1958. Several mergers had been ensuing until Nedlloyd was founded in 1970. Historical postcards with pictures of these ships are an important testimony to this rich past. Postcard lovers want to collect them.