So began the "decade of Germans" in transatlantic shipping, in which the NDL and the HAPAG dominated the routes with several record-breaking ships and vied with the British Cunard Line and the White Star Line as the largest shipping companies in the world. In 1902 and 1904, two NDL ships again won the Blue Riband: SS "Kronprinz Wilhelm", now with an average speed of for the westbound passage from Cherbourg to New York and "Kaiser Wilhelm II" at on the eastbound passage. In 1907, , and then in 1909, , both of the British Cunard Line, won the Blue Riband back for the British, and "Mauretania" then retained it until 1929.