For the first time in its history the Company instigated the formation of a Catering Department in April of 1947. Prior to this the victualling was overseen by the ship's Captain who was awarded an allowance for the vessel of which he was in command. This had always been a bone of contention of Junior Officers and crew alike and with the added problems of rationing it was decided to scrap the system and F.J. Tivendall was appointed as the first Catering Superintendent. Other problems which Straits Steamship had to overcome like all other ship owners were the spiralling costs of new tonnage it also had to face renewed competition from Malaya Railways and also with the advent of increased freight taken by road caused by a surplus of lorries it almost closed down its West Coast service. The Burma service was also seriously affected, as a State it had been devastated by the Japanese occupation and could barely feed its own people let alone export rice. China was also in turmoil. Again the occupying Japanese had destroyed much of the infrastructure and displaced millions of its people. Mao and Chiang Kai-Shek were going head to head, so the Company thought it prudent to pull out of the area hoping that it would settle down in the next three or four years, it therefore sold its ships used to trade and invested the proceeds.  KATONG The Company was also beset by a number of accidents involving its ships due to the lack or disappearance of navigational aids directly after the war, Maruda suffered material damage on Merundung Island in November of 1946, Kejong also ran aground in the same year. Bentong hit one of the many wartime wrecks littering the Harbour in 1946 the first of her many accidents, her second came in 1951 when she ran onto the Cyrene Shoal, she had an accident at Kuching in 1956, hit the Cruizer Rock in 1961 and hit a reef off Blakang Mati in 1962, not a lucky ship. Perak also ran onto the Cyrene Shoal in 1947 and Belru hit a mine off Horsburgh Light in the same year, indeed this run of seemingly unconnected accidents did lead to an investigation by the Company's insurers which in the event led to nought. However the accidents were to continue, Darvel in 1948, Kelatan in 1951, Kamuning in 1952 and Angby in 1954, thankfully from this period the accidents settled into a more regular pattern experienced and expected by ship owners.  KIMANIS ©I.L.  With Thanks to Julian Nichols Straits Steamship disposed of most of its holding in Singapore Steam Laundry in the fifties to Sime Darby and Co Ltd even though it was continuing to expand and extremely profitable. It also finally closed down the Ho Hong Line even though its three ships had survived the war selling its interests to the Overseas Chinese banking Corps in 1961. By this time Straits Steamship's problems had virtually all but disappeared along with some of its services so it was thought that the time was right for diversification. As early as the First World War the Company had taken an interest in the age of air travel even sponsoring a fighter called 'Tan Jiak Kim' which saw action in France. It wasn't until 1937 that the first attempt was made to form Malayan Airways. Two Companies had shown an interest in forming a domestic airline, the first Straits Steamship because Mansfield had been appointed agents for Imperial Airways, the second Wearne Brothers the largest automotive company in Malaya. An agreement was signed in December 1936 between Straits Steamship, Imperial Airways and Alfred Holts for the formation and Malayan Airways was registered in Singapore in 1937. C.E. Wurtzburg attempted to gain a reduction on the large tax imposed on aviation fuel, all to no avail and because it was thought that the airline could not run at a profit the enterprise floundered. The war then intervened and it wasn't until 1946 that Straits Steamship resurrected the idea of forming its own airline. It acquired its first airplane, an Air Speed Consul and on the 2nd of April 1947 flew five Chinese businessmen to Kuala Lumpur, this was the first commercial flight of Malayan Airways. A month later the first scheduled flight for the Straits Steamship Company's subsidiary took off from Singapore for Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang. Soon the Company were operating three of the eight-seater Consuls at a profit and had initiated an excellent maintenance service, by June the Company purchased Douglas D.C. 3's, the Americans economic and reliable wartime built workhorses. Even if these planes flew half full, which they rarely did a profit was assured and Malayan Airways went from strength to strength, all very satisfying for Straits Steamship. K.N. Black was Malayan Airways first Chairman a post he held until his retirement in 1951 and he instigated the Company's rapid expansion. By 1948 they operated flights not only to Penang but Medan, Djakarta, Palembang Saigon and Bangkok, the following year Kuching, Jesselton, Sandakan and Rangoon also this year the Company formed Sabah Airways Ltd. Due to the 1948 emergency the Company's internal flights increased, somewhat safer than travelling by road or rail and by the fifties it only operated to Bangkok and Sumatra outside Malaya. In 1955 the Company moved its centre of operations to the new Paya Lebar Airport in Singapore. 1957, the year of Malaya's independence was also the year of the Company's requirement to renew its operating licence. After protracted discussions an agreement was reached. The outcome of which saw the governments of Singapore, Malaya, Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei all having representation on the Board of the Airline Company and the Company finally went public. Straits Steamship then sold the bulk of its shareholding to B.O.A.C. and Mansfields ceased to manage the operation. Straits Steamship then entered into the tug and lightirage business when along with Malayan Stevedoring and Transportation Ltd, a Philippine company, it formed the Straits Towage Syndicate in 1957. By 1964 the Company was operating seven mineral oil lighters capable of carrying up to five different grades and four tugs, Mantin, Malin, Naga and Mantis. Tragedy struck in March of 1964 onboard one of the larger lighters when it suffered a major fire when discharging at Mallalla when accompanied by the Tug Naga, three of the tugs crew perished. Straits Towage also contracted with Shell to operate a ferry service between Singapore and Shell's installations at Pulau Bukom and Pulau Samboe in 1958. At the time Straits Towage bought five old ferries as part of the contract but by 1965 had replaced them with three steel modern ferries each equipped with air conditioning. The only accident which marred the venture was the sinking of one of the old ferries in 1961, the unfortunately named 'Naga', she took with her five passengers and three crew including her Captain, Hassan Bin Aim. In this year Straits Steamship bought out its partner and Straits Towage became a wholly owned subsidiary. Most of the lighters and ferries had been built at the yard of Sungei Nyok who had specialised in the Company's 75 tonners, with the virtual disappearance of West Coast traffic and the high cost of post-war tonnage its building programme had all but vanished. The last 75 tonner which the yard had commenced work on was the Renong whose keel had been laid in August of 1941, by the time the Japanese arrived the double bottoms and lower plating had been completed. The Japanese attempted to finish the ship ordering the machine Shop Foreman, Chin Ah Teck along with conscripted labour to complete the task. The brutality meted out to the locals was the same as received by anyone else under Japanese occupation and on one occasion a hundred workmen were entombed in a steel cylinder measuring 30 feet by 15 feet. They spent the entire day there in the full glare of the sun until being released in the evening, some taken to hospital the rest left more dead than alive where they collapsed on the jetty. On another they arrested Chin Ah Loi a Leading Boiler Maker along with fve others, the charge, non co-operation. They were imprisoned in Penang Jail and questioned by the notorious Kempetai, Chin Ah Loi was the sole survivor. The Japanese finally gave up on the project in November of 1943 but the ship was finally completed by W.G. Price who himself had been interned at Changi. In company with the old Machine Shop Foreman Chin Ah Teck they stood side by side as the last and best 75 tonner, Renong, slid down the way into the water.  KUNAK ©I.L. Work began in the early fifties on the new 100 tonners designed by J.R. Watson the Company's Superintendent and Naval Architect, first in the water was Trang in 1954, followed by Tapah in 1956 and finally Tronoh in 1957, all completed at Sungei Nyok.  MUSI ©I.L.  KLIAS ©I.L.  TRONOH  PERAK ©I.L.  STRAITS HOPE ©I.L. In 1960 a new agreement reached at Labuan convened by Singapore's Master Attendent Captain J.A.L. Pavitt and attended by representatives from Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Malaya agreed to raise the tonnage which a Local trade Master's ticket could operate up to anything below 1000 tons within an extended geographical area, this effectively made recently built 100 tonners redundant, it also put the future of Sungei Nyok in jeopardy. Again the Company along with its Dutch rival KPM were experiencing difficulties trading with the emerging nations in the region, particularly Indonesia so much so that the latter pulled out altogether but Straits Steamship persevered because by 1961 27% of the Company's income was derived from this source. After KPM's withdrawal the competition for the countries' coffee, rubber and copra exports increased as Singapore Chinese shipowners vied with Straits Steamship for the rights to carry the valuable cargoes. The Company still strived to expand in the face of growing competition and between 1959 - 1963 added the ports of Pangkal Pinang, Belinju and Tandjung Pandan to its routes along with the Tin Islands South of Singapore. Also it initiated services to Tandjong Priok, Bandjarmasin, Balik Papan and Tarakan in Borneo. Straits Steamship difficulties increased in the early sixties due to the deteriorating state of affairs in Indonesia, even having the Mantang arrested and detained at Pallembang for over three months because some unclaimed packages had been discovered amongst the Deck passengers luggage. The local currency became virtually worthless and Straits Steamship ceased to visit some of the Sumatran ports and ran reduced services to many others, by 1962 its earnings had fallen to 21% of the Company's total and in 1963 to 15%. When the Federation of Malaysia was formed Indonesia reacted by breaking off all trade and so Straits Steamship ceased to visit Indonesia altogether severely affecting the Company's profits. Due to similar problems which arose in Burma the Company also ceased trading there in February of 1963, in fact by this time Straits Steamship trade outside of the Malaysian Federation had been reduced to just West Thailand where it ran a joint operation with KPM using the Petaling and other smaller craft.  PETALING The Company's trade with Sarawak by 1963 was coming under intense competition exacerbated by the confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia the following year nine other companies were competing for the same cargoes as the Sarawak Steamship Company. Consequently Sarawak Steamship sold Rajah Brooke, Bentong and Bruas to Straits Steamship retaining Rejang and Auby, Straits Steamship then took over the trades from Singapore to Kuching, Sarikei, Binatang and Sibu. Rejang was retained on the Kuching Rejang River Ports service and Auby was chartered to the Ministry of Transport during the period of the Malaya/Indonesia confrontation acting as a troopship ferrying some 31, 000 troops.  AUBY Renewal of the Fleet. As early as 1947 the Company embarked on an extensive clear out of its older and uneconomic tonnage, first to go were Klang, Perak and Krian. Tapah followed in 1950, Kepong in 1951, Kelantan in 1953, Tung Song, Rantau and Angby of Sarawak Steamship all went in 1955. Rhu departed in 1959, Darvel, Kajang and Pangkor the following year. Resang went in 1961 and Matang, Maruda and Rasa in 1963. The last two pre-war ships to be scrapped were the 75 ton tankers Rimau and Relau which went to the breakers in 1966. Also the Company shed many of the ships it had purchased directly after the War, unsuitable then, more so as time went on. The 'Mays' were the first to go, four in 1953, two in 1955 and the last in 1956, three Sarawak steamship 'B' Class were sold Beluru in 1954, Buloh 1957 and Belaga in 1958. Kamuning went in 1953 and Kampar her sister in 1957, Kinabalu and Klias were scrapped in 1956, finally the two small coasters Timbali and Ong Tiang Swee were sold on in 1957. Maruda became a Singapore Government Training ship, the impetus to train Malaysian Officers had first commenced in 1953 by Straits Chairman F.T. Lane, not only were the cadets trained for local waters but strived towards a full foreign going certificate. During their training the cadets all served for six months on Blue Funnel ships, all expenses and clothing being provided by the Company (Straits Steamship). Kajang and Kunak were also converted for use as cadet training ships and by 1965 Straits Steamship vessels were manned by an ever increasing number of Malaysian Officers. By the early sixties Straits Steamship began to dispose of its 'Shelts' Class vessels which had become totally uneconomic, Rengam, Renong, Rewang, Rimba, Temburong, Jarak, Danau and Dasun were all sold.  DANAU The ships ordered to replace the Shelt Class were far more specialised and designed to operate in shallow river ports, the ships were of the landing craft design fitted with bow doors and the first two ordered were Tutong and Temburong. Due to the success of Membau a 746 ton tanker built in Hong Kong the Company ordered a larger version of 1, 753 tons from the Taikoo Dockyard, Pangkor was delivered in 1963 for service on the West Coast of Malaya.  MEMBAU  PANGKOR The Malayan Estates began to diversify their crops in the early sixties planting more Oil Palms, again the company had to design a specialised vessel which could reach the plantations most in shallow up river locations on both the East and West Coasts of Malaya, Rantau built at Sungei Nyok in 1966 was the result, a vessel capable of carrying both vegetable and mineral oils.  RANTAU Sabah had become a British Colony after the War and had become increasingly important to the future prosperity of Straits Steamship. As its economy grew so did the size of the Company's ships to operate the increasing traffic. The pre-war ships of Davel, Maruda and Kajang had all been of 2, 000 tons, Kimanis Caledon built was 3, 000 tons, in 1960 the Company purchased two 5, 000 tonners, Kunak and Keningau from KPM by far the largest ships which the Company had owned to date. Because the two ships were too large to berth alongside at Kudat the Company placed Temburong in the harbour to ferry passengers and cargo to and from the larger ships, this was to continue until the new wharf was completed in 1964. As the world economy improved the living standards rose accordingly Straits Steamship were well placed to reap the rewards for its sound investment programme initiated directly after the War and which continued well into the sixties. Not only did the facilities at Sabah improve but also those at Brunei, Sarawak, Borneo, Malaya and Singapore itself, the hub of the Company's operations. Exports of timber and Oil Palm continued to grow, rubber also but to a lesser extent, by 1965 Straits Steamship's Fleet was as follows:
 SEDILI, SUMPITAN, MERLIMAU, SENAI and SCUDAI ALONGSIDE AT SINGAPORE The Sarawak Steamship Co.
Straits Towage Syndicate
Total Tonnage: 45, 750  LAJU All those employed by Straits Steamship Company can look back with pride at the sacrifices made by their predecessors and look forward to the future with a confidence born out of the knowledge that their Company has contributed in great measure to the prosperity and development of the region and I have no doubt it will continue to do so for some time to come. Singapore left the Federation of Malaya in 1965 and the Government changed in Indonesia in 1966 ending its confrontation with Malaysia.  KLIAS  STRAITS STAR ©I.L.  STRAITS VENTURE ©I.L.  STRAITS PRIDE ©I.L.  RAJAH BROOKE ©I.L.  BENGAL ENTERPRISE ©I.L. Straits Steamship diversified in 1973 into other ventures such as property, leisure and transportation. In 1983 the Keppel Group of Singapore purchased Ocean Transport and Tradings majority share holding in the Straits Steamship Company and S.S. Co. Ultimately property became the Straits Steamship core business and it was renamed Straits Steamship Land in 1989. At this time, the ship owning part (i.e. The real Straits Steamship Company) was split off and renamed Steamers Maritime Holdings Ltd, with the ships names beginning with the 'Steamers ….' prefix. In 1997 as part of a corporate identity exercise, Straits Steamship Land became Keppel Land and Steamers Maritime became Keppel Telecommunications and Transportation - Shipping Division, this is what we have today and so it is in this year that the giant name of Straits Steamship disappears forever but hopefully will never be forgotten. |
