imports to Brazil and take exports abroad, and they could move between Brazilian ports in doing so, but they could not take a Brazilian cargo from one Brazilian port to another. In 1862 its National Congress voted to suspend this protectionism for the years 1863 and 1864. It repeated the suspension several times until 1873, when the suspension was made permanent. At first Lamport and Holt was the only foreign company to take up the new freedom. By the late 1860s it was running a coastal service between Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul. Lamport and Holt won a mail contract from the Brazilian government in 1868, soon followed by one with the UK General Post Office. In 1872 Brazil founded a Companhia Nacional de Navegação a Vapor ("National Steam Navigation Company"), but Lamport and Holt continued to compete with it for coastal trade. Early steamships had simple engines with high coal consumption. They offered more reliable journey times than sailing ships, but at a high cost. The large amount of coal that had to be carried reduced space for cargo, so that many longer routes were economically unfeasible. A compound engine achieved much better fuel economy, but generally required higher boiler pressures than were currently allowed by the Board of Trade. In 1865 George Holt junior's brother Alfred Holt introduced , the first ship authorised by the Board of Trade to use the higher boiler pressure of , so benefitting from her compound engine. This increased fuel efficiency, reduced coal consumption and enabled steamships to take more trade from sailing ships. Between 1864 and 1867 Lamport and Holt's LB&SP Navigation company bought 20 steamships, all but one of which were newly built to its own specification. The last sailing ship built for Lamport and Holt was the Sarah J. Ellis, which was completed in New Brunswick in 1869. Lamport and Holt sold her in 1871. The last sailing ship in the Lamport and Holt fleet may have been the Southern Queen, which was bought nearly new in 1866 and sold in 1880. WJ Lamport died in 1874 aged 59. At the time of his death the fleet had 31 ships and totalled . Lamport was succeeded in the partnership by Walter Holland, who had been an apprentice with Lamport at Gibbs, Bright & Co. Another long-serving employee, Charles Jones, was also made a partner. In 1886 Lamport