The Blue Star Line was a British passenger and cargo shipping company formed in 1911, being in operation until 1998.

The high prices charged for transport by these companies led the Vestey brothers to start to operate their own ships.

The company expanded its operations to include services to the Pacific coast of North America from 1920, and Australia and New Zealand from 1933.

[1][2] Blue Star expanded into passenger transport, notably with five 12,900 GRT liners built in 1926–27 for its new London – Rio de Janeiro – Buenos Aires route.

RMSP Chairman Lord Kylsant called the Blue Star ships "very keen competition" even though at the very same time his company introduced two larger and more luxurious new ocean liners for passenger and refrigerated cargo on the route, the 22,200 GRT Asturias (completed 1926) and Alcantara (completed 1927).

This may have been partly to help distinguish Blue Star from Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, whose ships bore similar Spanish names.

[5] Because the Imperial Star-class were refrigerated and in merchant shipping terms relatively fast, several sailed in high-risk convoys to relieve the siege of Malta.

In February 1942 another ship of the same class, Empire Star, successfully evacuated an estimated 2,160 people from the fall of Singapore.

[1] Blue Star Line now had global interests, with ports of call on the Pacific North American coast, in Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South America and Italy.

Blue Star Line gradually moved towards containerization, ending its passenger services to South America in 1972.

[citation needed] In 1982–83 Blue Star Line assisted in the defence of the Falkland Islands by managing the barracks ship TEV Rangatira at Port Stanley.

Some of the original Blue Star vessels sold to P&O Nedlloyd traded until February 2003 on the East Coast of America to Australia and New Zealand.