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World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

A public reference property of Baalvion

Open data · every figure carries its source

World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

water transport

Union-Castle Line

Dissolved 1990

Headquarters: London
Founded: 1853
Employees: —

Photo: National Maritime Museum · Public domain · file

Ships in this registry

Counted from individual vessel records · Wikidata

Reported fleet size

—

No published figure available

Container capacity

—

Not a ranked container line

Gross tonnage on record

36,819

Summed over 2 ships reporting tonnage

In brief

What Union-Castle Line is

Full article ↗

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 (commonly referred to as Safmarine) in 1973 to create International Liner Services, but maintained its separate identity throughout. Its shipping operations ceased in 1977.

Corporate profile

Identity and registration

Legal name: —
Industry: water transport
Legal form: —
Country of registration: United Kingdom
Headquarters: London
Formed in: —
Founded: 1853
Dissolved: 1990
Employees: —
Head office coordinates: 51.5072, -0.1275

Ships on record here: 5
Vessel types operated: 2
Flag states used: 1
Average vessel age: 96.3 years
Oldest vessel on record: 1904
Newest vessel on record: 1948
Largest vessel by tonnage: 28,705
Average tonnage: 18,410
Market share: —
Parent company: —
Alliance: —
Record source: wikidata
Last refreshed: 2026-09-05

Fleet on record

What this company sails

Composition of the 5 vessels this registry attributes to Union-Castle Line. Bars are true proportions of that set, not of the company's full fleet.

By vessel type

Cruise ship3

Unclassified2

By flag state

United Kingdom4

By shipbuilder

Harland and Wolff5

Delivery history

10-year fleet record

Ships delivered in each of the last 10 years, counted from the recorded build year of vessels attributed to this company, with the running total of its fleet on record. No deliveries fall inside this window — this company’s vessels on record were all built earlier.

Year	Gross tonnage added	Fleet on record
2017	—	3
2018	—	3
2019	—	3
2020	—	3
2021	—	3
2022	—	3
2023	—	3
2024	—	3
2025	—	3
2026	—	3

Vessel records

Ships on record

5 vessels

Ship	IMO	Type	Flag	Built	Gross tonnage	Deadweight	Length	Builder
Pretoria Castle	5284352	Cruise ship	United Kingdom	1948	28,705	—	227.8 m	Harland and Wolff
Dunluce Castle	1118490	Unclassified	United Kingdom	1904	8,114	—	144.8 m	Harland and Wolff
Braemar Castle	5505008	Unclassified	—	—	—	—	175.5 m	Harland and Wolff
MV Stirling Castle	5534108	Cruise ship	United Kingdom	—	—	—	223.7 m	Harland and Wolff
RMMV Capetown Castle	5062285	Cruise ship	United Kingdom	1937	—	—	214.2 m	Harland and Wolff

Ships in registry counts individual vessel records attributed to the company here. Reported fleet is the company’s published total. They measure different things and are shown separately on purpose.

In context

How Union-Castle Line compares

Counts over companies and vessels actually held in this directory — not over the world fleet, which is larger. Nothing here is estimated.

With 5 vessels attributed to it here, Union-Castle Line is the 174th largest of the 965 operators in this directory that hold at least one ship on record, against a median of 2 across that group. That is a count of individually identified hulls, not the company’s published fleet size — the two are different measurements and both are shown above where available.

United Kingdom is the country of registration for 97 commercial operators in this directory, among which Union-Castle Line ranks 11th by ships on record. Between them those companies hold 260 vessels here. See every operator registered in United Kingdom.

Founded in 1853, Union-Castle Line is 173 years old. This directory holds 32 operators founded within five years either side of that date, whose median fleet on record is 1 ships. The median founding year across all commercial operators here is 1966, and the oldest on record dates to 1514.