The house flag of the Koninklijke Java-China-Paketvaart Lijnen N. V., Amsterdam. A rectangular flag divided horizontally with red over blue and a white diamond in the centre bearing a gold crown. Red, white and blue colours are the same as those of the national flag of the Netherlands. The flag is made of cotton and it is machine sewn with a printed design. A rope and clip are attached.
Koninklijke Java-China-Paketvaart Lijnen N.V. (KJCPL), also known as the Royal Interocean Lines, was founded in 1947 as the result of a merger between Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM) and Java China Japan Lijn (JCJL), two Dutch shipping companies subsidised by the Dutch government and operating packet services in the Dutch East Indies and Far East. Upheaval and the subsequent declaration of independence of Indonesia after World War II precipitated this merger, as KPM found that their successes in this area had diminished as a result of the insurrection. Shortly after the merger, a new ship-building program was implemented for KJCPL, with the company building both passenger and cargo passenger ships. There were some remaining KPM ships operating in Indonesia after the merger, but they were seized and expelled by 1957. In the 1950’s under the English name Royal Interocean Lines, the company was operating services to and from Asia, Australia and Africa. The last of KPM, including the smaller companies Hollandse Vrachtvaart Maatschappij (HVM) and Nederlandse Tank- en Paketvaart Maatschappij (NTPM), was merged into KJCPL in 1967. At this point the company’s fleet consisted of 77 ships. The following year, the company sold four passenger ships and from that point on only ordered cargo ships. It appeared that the rise in commercial aviation in the 1960’s was contributing to the demise of long-haul passenger journeys by ship, one of Royal Interocean’s main services. In 1970, the company was integrated into the Nedlloyd Group along with the shipping companies Rotterdam Lloyd, Nederland Line and the United Netherlands Navigation Company, and in 1977 the name was changed to Koninklijke Nedlloyd Group. The KJCPL flag is a modification of JCJL’s flag; the red over blue white diamond was JCJL’s flag background, but instead of bearing ‘JCJL’ in the diamond, a crown was placed there indicating the ‘Koninklijke’ (Royal) name of KJCPL. [Rebecca Hernandez].