page_title: Union-Castle Line
section_title: British & Commonwealth, and International Liner Services
hierarchical_section_title: Union-Castle Line / British & Commonwealth, and International Liner Services
caption_attribution_description: English: Edinburgh Castle III (ship) Built in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1948. Union-Castle Line to South and East Africa. The Union-Castle Royal Mail Steamer, approximately 28,705 tons.
context_page_description: The Union-Castle Line was a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. It was formed from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line.
  It merged with Bullard King and Clan Line in 1956 to form British & Commonwealth Shipping, and then with South African Marine Corporation in 1973 to create International Liner Services, but maintained its separate identity throughout. Its shipping operations ceased in 1977.
context_section_description: The company took over the King Line in 1949, and merged with Bullard King and Clan Line in 1956 to form British & Commonwealth Shipping. It merged with South African Marine Corporation in 1973 to create International Liner Services, but competition with air travel adversely affected its shipping activities, and cargo shipping rapidly became containerised. The final South African mail service arrived in Southampton on 24 October 1977, and International Liner Services withdrew from shipping in 1982. British & Commonwealth continued in other fields, and acquired Atlantic Computers in 1989, but accounting problems soon became apparent and British & Commonwealth was liquidated in 1990.
  In the 1950s and 60s the line operated a fleet of fifteen ships, eight on the principal weekly mail run from Southampton to Cape Town.  Each ship could carry an average of two hundred First Class passengers and four hundred and fifty in Tourist Class.  Six of the remaining ships operated the monthly Round Africa service, sailing both clockwise and anti-clockwise round the continent.  The remaining ship operated a service carrying up to 750 Tourist Class passengers to Beira and back via the West Coast route every three months.
  In December 1999 the Union-Castle name was revived for a millennium cruise; the P&O ship Victoria was chartered for a 60-day cruise around Africa, and had its funnel repainted for the occasion.
  The last few surviving Union-Castle Line ships were scrapped in the early 21st century, the former Kenya Castle in 2001, the former Transvaal Castle in 2003, the former Dunnottar Castle in 2004, and finally Windsor Castle in 2005.
caption: RMS Edinburgh Castle, built in 1947
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