in the mid-1960s. P&O and Orient Line were formally merged in 1960 to form P&O-Orient Lines. In 1964, and were transferred to the P&O fleet. The name Orient Line was dropped altogether in 1966 when and were also transferred to the P&O fleet. In 1969, British and Commonwealth Shipping, Furness Withy, P&O and The Ocean Steamship Company established Overseas Containers Limited (OCL) to exploit containerisation. By the early 1980s, it had converted all of its dry cargo liner routes to container operations and in 1986 it bought out the remaining OCL partners, renaming the operation P&O Containers Limited (P&OCL). P&OCL was merged with Nedlloyd in 1996 to form P&O Nedlloyd. With the development of low-cost air travel and the rising operating costs of ocean liners in the 1970s, P&O refocused its passenger operations on cruise ships. This culminated in the foundation of the subsidiary company P&O Cruises in 1977, under which P&O carried out its subsequent passenger operations. In 1972, P&O formally absorbed the British-India Steam Navigation Company (BI). The amalgamation of these two companies began in 1914 but BI had retained its own identity until this time. Strick Line and Hain-Nourse, amongst several other lines were also taken over in the early 1970s. BI cargo ships were renamed Strath*M* (Strathmore, Strathmuir, Strathmay, etc.) or Strath*C* (Strathcarron, Strathcarrol), the Strick line ships renamed Strath*A* (Strathanna, Strathaird, Strathattrick (the big "A") etc.) and the Hain-Nourse ships Strath*T* (Strathtruim, Strathtay etc.). The newest ships were 6 Strath*D*s (Strathdoon, Strathduns etc.), SD14s built in Sunderland. P&O also built 6 ships in Stocznia Gdansk, Poland (the Strath*E*s) and 2 ships in Japan (the Strath*F*s) and bought into DOT, a naval shipping company. In 1975, P&O established Pandoro for operation of the company's Irish Sea RO-RO routes. Pandoro was an acronym for P and O Ro. In 1998 P&O European Ferries (Irish Sea) Ltd was formed by the internal merger of Pandoro Ltd. and P&O European (Felixstowe) Ltd., to run the Irish Sea routes. In 1987, P&O took over the European Ferries Group Plc—to which it had previously sold its cross channel ferry services in 1985—which traded as Townsend Thoresen, and renamed the company P&O European Ferries. Over the last quarter of the Twentieth Century P&O diversified into construction management (through the Bovis companies, which it owned from 1974 to 1999), property investment and development, and a variety of service businesses including exhibition and conference