Memorabilia: The
Limassol Steamship Company, 1905-1915
Part B
By Dr. Anthony Madella
Introduction by Dr.
Mimis Sophocleous
The basic activity of the Limassol Steamship Company (LSC) was the transport of passengers, goods and post. The Postal Contract provided for a state subsidy of £4,750. It also placed a ceiling on fares for the transport of cargo (animals, fruit, vegetables, wine). Particularly noteworthy was the operation aboard company ships of a specialized service for the sorting of mail, in the context of what was known as the Cyprus Seas Post Office. Thanks to this facility, mail delivery throughout Cyprus was expedited in a spectacular way, a development that was much appreciated by the public. However, the company ships continued to be fraught with problems pertaining to maritime safety and hygiene.
The monetary size of the whole operation was simply staggering by the standards of the early 20th century. The Company’s share capital of £50,000 was nearly five times the annual budget of the Department of Agriculture! It was also equivalent to around 14% of revenues under the annual state budget! Why the whole LSC venture ended up being rather short-lived remains a controversial issue. Until recently, it was believed that this was due to the company not being able to add a third steamship to its fleet, its use of the Greek rather than the British flag, and unfair competition on the part of non-Cypriot shipping companies. It would seem, however, that there were also overriding political reasons involved.
A case in point was the 1912 decision of the British administration in charge of Cyprus not to extend the Postal Contract with LSC, a move that was effectively tantamount to pulling the rug from under the company’s feet. Not at all irrelevant to this decision were pressures exercised by Ottoman members of the Legislative Council in favour of the Postal Contract being awarded to the Anglo-Egyptian Khedivial Mail Steamship Company, which is what happened. It was a move that effectively deprived Cyprus of maritime know-how for the next half-century, all the way to the 1960s when Cyprus – and Limassol in particular – emerged as a leading international shipping and ship management hub.
In retrospect, the LSC was a pioneer in its area of expertise. In the seven years during which it was fully operational (1906-1912), it carried out more than 500 sea journeys, transporting an estimated 21,000-25,000 passengers. At the time, that was equivalent to twice the urban population of Limassol or 9% of the entire population of Cyprus! The Limassol Steamship Company, along with other successful merchant companies of that era, certainly contributed to laying the foundations of Limassol’s development in the 1950s into a leading port and an important industrial centre, one that British journalist Percy Arnold described as the ‘’Liverpool of Cyprus’’!
