Dart Containerline Co Ltd (as it was incorporated in Bermuda) was a consortium of shipping companies that commenced operations in 1969, thus becoming one of the first

container shipping Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the ...

operators. The consortium comprised

Compagnie Maritime Belge The Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) is one of the oldest Antwerp ship-owners. It is controlled by the Saverys family who also own major stakes in the Exmar and Euronav groups. History CMB was founded in 1895 under the name Compagnie Belge Mariti ...

(CMB), Charles Hill of Bristol, England (owners of the

Bristol City Line Bristol City Line was a British shipping line based in Bristol, England that traded from 1704 until 1974. From 1760 Bristol City Line also built ships. The company's fleet was distinguished with the name of each ship ending in "City", and named ...

) and Clarke Traffic Services Ltd from

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, Canada. The company operated between Antwerp and

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

in Europe and Halifax, New York and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

in North America. At first, the consortium deployed three chartered German container ships to Halifax plus four 18,000-ton painter-class ships, including ''Breughel'', which had been launched in 1963 and operated by CMB, to US ports. The purpose-built vessels operated by the consortium included the 31,036-ton MV ''Dart America'', owned by Clarke and launched in 1970, and her sister ship MV ''Dart Atlantic'', owned by Bristol City Line and launched in 1971. Both these vessels were later owned by the

Bibby Line Bibby Line is a UK company concerned with shipping and marine operations. Its parent company, Bibby Line Group Limited, can be traced back to John Bibby who founded the company in 1807. The company along with the group is based in Liverpool ...

, which acquired Bristol City Line in 1971. Bibby later sold its share in Dart Containerline to Orient Overseas Container Line, which took over the Clarke shareholding in 1973. The third ship, MV''Dart Europe'', was owned by CMB. The consortium ceased operating in 1981, when the St Lawrence Coordinated Service was formed by Orient Overseas Container Line (though its subsidiary Manchester Liners), Compagnie Maritime Belge and CP Ships, and Halifax was dropped for the Canadian service in favour of Montreal, while a separate service was begun to the US. The ''Dart America'' became the ''Manchester Challenge'', the ''Dart Atlantic'' the ''CP Ambassador'' and the ''Dart Europe'' the ''CMB Europe'', while a fourth ship was added as the ''Canadian Explorer''. In 1983, Orient Overseas took over the whole of the US service, under which name it operates today. In Canada, the successors are Orient Overseas Container Line, which eventually shed the Manchester Liners name, and Hapag-Lloyd, which took over CP Ships in 2007.

References

{{Reflist Defunct shipping companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies of Bermuda Transport companies established in 1969 1969 establishments in Bermuda