The Bank Line was a British commercial shipping line that was established in 1905 by Andrew Weir. The company was sold to the Swire Group in 2003, eventually ceasing operations in 2009. Initially a tramp operator of sailing vessels, it developed into a major company operating shipping lines all over the world.
History
Andrew Weir, from Glasgow, Scotland, who came from a family of cork merchants, became a ship owner in 1885 when he purchased a barque, already known as the Willowbank. He then rapidly developed a fleet of sailing vessels that became the largest fleet sailing under the British flag.[1] Weir purchased his first steamship in 1896. Named the Duneric, this was the first of the vessels that he had had built not to have the suffix “bank”, which was not used for his steamships. Bank Line Ltd formally came into operation in 1905, when the Head Office was moved to London, close to the Baltic Exchange, where shipping contracts are exchanged. Until then most of the ships owned by Weir had been operated by one-ship companies. By 1917, Weir had sold the last of his windjammers and the use of “bank” in the vessel's name had temporarily died out. Weir purchased 43 steamships between 1896 and World War I.[2]