Chine Shipping Co Ltd

The Chine Shipping Company of Cardiff was incorporated as a public company in 1934 with a capital of £20,000. Until the Second World War the Company operated in a modest way with second-hand ships. During the war, and after the loss of its last ship, the Company operated various vessels on behalf of the Ministry of War Transport. In 1944 it was taken over by the Anglo-Danubian Transport Company, which had its headquarters in London. This company, founded in 1928 by George Bischoff (d 1963), had operated a fleet of tugs and barges in the Danube before the war. Bischoff decided to go into deep sea shipowning with the purchase of the Chine Shipping Company. In 1945 he also purchased the Gryfevale Steamship Company and the Rodney Steamship Company. In addition, he owned the Anglo-Continental Inland Waterways Ltd operating barges on the Rhine. From this time the Chine Shipping Company became the most active interest in the group, operating a small number of bulk carriers mainly engaged in the transport of phosphate rock from Spain to Billingham. The depressed state of the tramp freight market, however, led to the liquidation of the Company in 1968.