On 17 August 1869 a new international organisation for the development of trade met in the Parkzaal (now Wertheim park) in Amsterdam. It discussed the opening of the Suez Canal and an upcoming trade congress in Cairo. Mr. J. Boissevain stated that it was now possible and necessary to establish a steam shipping line to Java. The Netherlands had to take the initiative, and had to do so quickly. Government support was essential because the government was the biggest trader on Java. Mr. Boele noted that Dutch shipping to the Indies and across the Atlantic was so backward that it could not establish the steam shipping line without the help of the government and foreign aid. It was not about subsidies, but about cooperation, because the state was a monopolist on Java. He also noted that English capital and ships to establish a steam shipping line had already been offered to him via the Dutch consul in Liverpool. Engineer A. Huet urged more speed on the works of the harbors for Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Mr. Boelen (a different speaker than Boele) made some remarks that the new steam ships should be made suitable to carry passengers, freight and coal, without going to deep.