As part of the company's legacy, it was directly involved in the transport of many hundreds of thousands of emigrants from the Netherlands to North America.

The company's first ship was the original Rotterdam (1872), which sailed its 15-day maiden voyage from the Netherlands to New York City on October 15, 1872.

By 1892, HAL ships sailing between Rotterdam and Hoboken were scheduled to call en route at Boulogne in France.

Pirrie was acting on behalf of J. P. Morgan's International Mercantile Marine Company (IMM), which already owned HAL's Belgian competitor Red Star Line.

Pirrie did not disclose the fact that IMM had formed a cartel with Albert Ballin's Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) and Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), and wanted to buy HAL to control passenger and cargo rates across the North Atlantic.

However, a month later, the First World War started, and in 1915 the UK government requisitioned the new ship in H&W's shipyard and had her completed as the troopship Justicia.

[18][19] After the First World War began, Dutch capitalists bought HAPAG and NDL's shares in HAL.

[20] In March 1918 President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation seizing under angary 89 Dutch merchant ships in US ports.

In 1921–22 HAL introduced its first steam turbine passenger liners: the 8,800 GRT Maasdam, Edam, Leerdam and Spaarndam.

On westbound voyages, their ports of call were Antwerp, Boulogne, Bilbao, Santander, Gijón, A Coruña, Vigo, Havana and Vera Cruz.

[6][23] In 1922 H&W launched two larger passenger liners for HAL's Rotterdam – Hoboken route: the 15,000 GRT Volendam and Veendam.

In 1927 the Dutch government gave HAL a loan to get the ship towed to the Netherlands and completed at Wilton's Dok- en Werf Maatschappij in Schiedam.

[26] In 1920 van der Giessen & Zonen in Krimpen aan den IJssel launched Burgerdijk,[27] which was HAL's first steam turbine cargo ship.

In 1922 and 1923 Scheepsbouw-Maatschappij 'Nieuwe Waterweg' in Scheidam launched a pair of larger turbine cargo ships for HAL, the 8,350 GRT Gaasterdijk and Grootendijk.

Damsterdijk, Delftdijk, Dinteldijk and Drechtdijk shared the route with RML's refrigerated cargo ships Lochmonar, Lochkatrine and Lochgoil.

As well as London, they were scheduled to call at various other ports in Britain, the Caribbean, California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, terminating at Vancouver.

[26] German forces towed Boschdijk to the Baltic, where the Luftwaffe used her for target practice until she sank in April 1942.

[48] Its Rotterdam – Hoboken route continued to serve Southampton, but by 1948 the port of Boulogne was still not in a condition to resume handling large ocean liners.

Veendam made intermediate calls at Southampton only, and Noordam and Westerdam ran direct between Rotterdam and Hoboken.

She was one of the first North Atlantic ships equipped for two-class transatlantic crossing and one-class luxury cruising.

HAL ceased operating as a Dutch line in 1989, when Carnival bought it for 1.2 billion guilders (€530 million).

[78] All HAL ships have a dark blue hull with white superstructure, with the company's logo featured prominently on the functional smoke stacks.

[80] The Holland America Group of HAL and Princess Cruises have a letter of understanding to buy the White Pass and Yukon Route between Skagway, Alaska and the US-Canadian border.

On July 15, 2020, it was announced by Holland America that Maasdam, Veendam, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam were sold to two undisclosed buyers.

The cruise line also announced that it expected to have Starlink fully operational across its entire fleet by mid-December 2023.

[84] With the move, Holland America joined its sister-brands in Carnival Corporation & plc, including Princess Cruises and Cunard Line.