'''Lamport and Holt''' was a [[shipping line]] based in [[Liverpool]], England. It was founded in 1845 by William James Lamport<!--nb: the cited source says W. L. but that is a typo--> and [[George Holt (merchant)|George Holt]]. Lamport was from [[Workington]] in [[Cumberland]], while Holt, whose brother Alfred founded the [[Blue Funnel Line]], was a Liverpool man.<ref name="museums">{{cite web |title=Information Sheet 23: Lamport and Holt |publisher=National Museums Liverpool |url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/sheet/23 |accessdate=2017-02-08}}</ref>{{efn|Alfred Holt worked for the business in a clerical capacity for a short time around 1851, and another brother, [[Philip Holt]], was a partner in the firm.<ref>{{cite web |title=Holt, Alfred (1829–1911), engineer and shipowner |first=J. Gordon |last=Read |publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47428 |accessdate=2017-02-08}} {{ODNBsub}}</ref>}}

Lamport and Holt (L&H) traded with the Americas, India and South Africa. They used wooden sailing ships at first but in 1861 invested in two 1300-ton [[tramp steamer]]s. The business expanded with the formation of a company called The Liverpool, Brazil and River Plate Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., which provided cargo, mail and passenger services from Liverpool, London, Glasgow in the UK and also from Antwerp in Belgium. According to [[ National Museums Liverpool]], "In 1869 it pioneered the Brazil&nbsp;— New York coffee trade."<ref name="museums"/> Despite a relaxation of Brazilian laws, foreign shipping companies were reluctant to work the coast of that country but L&H saw an opportunity from the 1860s and exploited it using their subsidiary company, initially providing a service between [[Rio de Janeiro]] and [[Rio Grande do Sul]]. By 1869, a triangular trading route had been established that carried British manufactured goods to Brazil, re-loaded there with coffee for New York, and collected wheat and raw materials from that port for the return voyage to Britain.<ref>{{cite book |title=Oil and Coffee: Latin American Merchant Shipping from the Imperial Era to the 1950s |first=René De La Pedraja |last=Tomán |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-31330-839-0 |pages=6-9 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Fj7XCXKHPU4C&pg=PA9}}</ref>