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Private company

Royal Rotterdam Lloyd

Logo: Mr.Nostalgic (SVG by Alexphangia ), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Former Dutch shipping company

Royal Rotterdam Lloyd (Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd or KRL) was a Dutch shipping line that was established in Rotterdam in 1883 as Rotterdamsche Lloyd (RL). It became "Royal Rotterdam Lloyd" in 1947. RL mainly operated scheduled passenger and mail services between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies.2 It is part of Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie.1 It ceased to exist in 1970.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1883Founded1
  • Industrywater transport1
  • HeadquartersRotterdam1

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KITLV A1236 - Reis met de Dempo van de Rotterdamsche Lloyd door familie L.C. Bochardt van Palembang naar Nederland via Singapore, Ceylon, Port Said en Italië, KITLV 158606
Photo: Anonymous Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons5

Royal Rotterdam Lloyd (Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd or KRL) was a Dutch shipping line that was established in Rotterdam in 1883 as Rotterdamsche Lloyd (RL). It became "Royal Rotterdam Lloyd" in 1947. RL mainly operated scheduled passenger and mail services between Rotterdam and the Dutch East Indies. Its independent existence ended in 1970, when KRL merged with four other Dutch shipping companies to form the Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie (NSU). In 1977 NSU became Nedlloyd.2

The story

Willem Ruys (1809–1889) was a shipbroker, freight forwarder and insurance agent in Rotterdam. In 1838 he entered into his first partenrederij, trading with the Dutch East Indies and the Far East. After the Suez Canal opened in 1869, his son Willem Ruys (1837–1901) expanded the company in 1872 with a steamship service to Batavia.

In 1875 Willem Ruys founded Partenrederij Stoomboot Reederij "Rotterdamsche Lloyd". In 1881 the company was renamed Stoomvaart Maatschappij "Rotterdamsche Lloyd". On June 15, 1883 it was converted into the public limited company Rotterdamsche Lloyd NV. It had a fleet of seven ships, each owned by a different partenrederij, but all managed by Wm. Ruys & Zonen.

From Wikipedia’s article on Royal Rotterdam Lloyd, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

  • Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1970Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1883Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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