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Cunard Line

Логотип компании
Название компании:
Cunard Line
United Kingdom
24303 Town Center Drive, Suite 200, Valencia, CA 91355, (800) 7-CUNARD
Контактное лицо:
Cunard Line
Контактный телефон:
Cunard Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, has a long and illustrious history. Cunard Line is an American-owned British-operated shipping company that has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic. In 1839, Canadian-born Samuel Cunard was awarded the first British transatlantic steamship mail contract, and the next year formed the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company to operate the line's four pioneer paddle steamers on the Liverpool–Halifax–Boston route. For most of the next 30 years Cunarders held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic voyage. However, in the 1870s Cunard fell behind its rivals, the White Star Line and the Inman Line. To meet this competition, in 1879 the firm was reorganized as Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd to raise capital.

White Star joined the American-owned International Mercantile Marine Co. in 1902 and the British Government provided Cunard with substantial loans and a subsidy to build the two super liners needed to retain its competitive position. Mauretania held the Blue Riband from 1909 to 1929 and the sinking of her sister ship Lusitania in 1915 was one of the causes of the United States entering the First World War. In the late 1920s Cunard faced new competition when the Germans, Italians and French built large prestige liners. Cunard was forced to suspend construction on its own new superliner because of the economic depression. In 1934 the British Government offered Cunard loans to finish the Queen Mary and to build a second ship, the Queen Elizabeth, if Cunard merged with the then ailing White Star line to form Cunard White-Star Ltd.  Cunard owned two-thirds of the new company. Cunard purchased White Star's share in 1947 and the name reverted to the Cunard Line in 1950.

Sir Winston Churchill estimated that the two Queens helped to shorten the Second World War by at least a year. Upon the end of the war, Cunard regained its position as the largest Atlantic passenger line and by the mid 1950s operated 12 ships to the United States and Canada. After 1958 transatlantic passenger ships became increasingly unprofitable because of the introduction of jet airliners. Cunard withdrew from its year-round service in 1968 to concentrate on cruising and summer transatlantic voyages for vacationers. The Queens were replaced by the Queen  Elizabeth 2 (QE2), which was designed for the dual role. In 1998 Cunard was acquired by the Carnival Corporation and five years later QE2 was replaced on the Transatlantic runs by the Queen Mary 2 (QM2). The line also operates the Queen Victoria (QV) and the forthcoming Queen Elizabeth (QE), due for entry into service in 2010.

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