The British and Irish Steam Packet Company Limited was a steam packet and passenger ferry company operating between ports in Ireland and in Great Britain between 1836 and 1992. It was latterly popularly called the B&I, and branded as B&I Line.
The company took over the business of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company.
Private company
The B&I was established in Dublin in 1836 with an initial fleet of paddle steamers by a group of Dublin businessmen including James Jameson, Arthur Guinness and Francis Carlton. The company was based on Eden Quay until it moved to No. 46 East Wall in 1860. The fleet changed to iron in the 1840s and 1850s to ply on the company routes of Falmouth–Torquay–Southampton–Portsmouth and London together with Dublin–Wexford–Waterford. The company acquired the London service of the Waterford Steamship Company in 1870 by which they dominated this route.
The controlling owner of the B&I was the Liverpool Shipping Company. It was taken over by the Kylsant Royal Mail Company in 1917 and renamed Coast Lines