[1] In 1863 the British-owned Nederlandsch-Indische Stoomvaartmaatschappij (NISM) won a tender for a number of subsidized shipping lines in the Dutch East Indies.

The minister of colonial affairs Jacobus Sprenger van Eyk and the businessmen Jan Boissevain (1836–1904), Willem Ruys, and PE Tegelberg responded with a plan for a new "national" shipping line.

The KPM supported the unification of the Dutch colonial economy as the Netherlands expanded its territory across the Indonesian archipelago.

Especially in the early 1890s, this allowed Dutch shipyards to gain experience in building faster ships and to catch up with the foreign competition.

[15][16][17] To advance tourism in Indonesia, the company built a hotel on Bali in 1928, launching a tourist trade in the region.

[13][14] Operating in and near the East Indies, KPM avoided war losses until February 1941, when Admiral Scheer shelled the cargo ship Rantaupandjang in the Indian Ocean, wounding four of her crew.

[23] The means by which these vessels were brought under control of the SWPA command was complex and involved discussions with the Dutch government-in-exile in both London and Washington, as well as in Australia.

At first the 21 ships that reached Australia were chartered by the Chief Quartermaster, USAFIA, on 26 March 1942 with long term details to be negotiated at higher levels.

[24] The eventual decision, involving governments in London, Washington and the Combined Chiefs of Staff, was that the charters would be handled by the British MoWT for the US Army.

[28] On the night of 11–12 December 1942 Karsik, escorted by HMAS Lithgow, was the first large ship to arrive at Oro Bay.

[31] The subsequent, routine, supply runs of Operation Lilliput supporting the Allied campaign were with few exceptions made by the KPM ships, some of which were damaged or lost.

That January, Van Imhoff left the Dutch East Indies and headed for Colombo in Ceylon, carrying several hundred German internees.

[35] On 26 February Rooseboom left Batavia carrying 500 evacuees, including 250 British soldiers, headed for Padang on Sumatra.

[37] With the declaration of independence and the establishment of Indonesia as a nation in 1945 and 1949 respectively, the highly profitable KPM remained under Dutch ownership and management.

KPM became a major focus for Indonesian activists seeking to reduce Dutch influence in the post-colonial economy.

[1][38][39] From that base, KPM bought control of Maatschappij Zeetransport (the Oranje Lijn) of Rotterdam, thus entering the European-Canadian trade.