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# Swiss Maritime Companies

##

Last modified: 2026-04-18 by martin karner
Keywords: switzerland | sea merchant flags | maritime shipping | house flag | shipping company | shipping lines |
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- Acomarit Services Maritimes SA – Geneva
- Arosa Line – Panama, but Swiss-owned
- Atlanship SA – La Tour-De-Peilz
- Contal Shipping Ltd. – Zurich
- Dabinovic S.A. – Geneva
- Haniel Inland Shipping Company
- Hanseatic Lloyd AG – Uttwil
- Heerema Marine Contractors S.A. – Villars-sur-Glane
- Intertrans Tankschiffahrt AG – Schönenbuch
- Jumbo Shipping Co. S.A. – Geneva
- Keller Shipping – Basel
- Massoel Gestion Maritime SA – Geneva
- MSC – Mediterranean Shipping Company SA – Geneva
- Nauta SA – Pratteln
- Nautilus AG – Glarus
- Navylloyd AG – Basel
- Rondeau Holdings AG – Wollerau
- St. Gotthard Schiffahrts AG (HH Thyssen-Bornemisza) – Chur
- Suisse-Atlantique Société de Navigation Maritime SA – Lausanne / Oceana Shipping – Chur
- Vinalmar SA (formerly Ermefer SA) – Geneva

- Alpina Reederei AG – Basel
- Basler Rheinschiffahrt – Basel
- Befrag AG – Basel
- Bragtank AG – Basel
- Compagnie Generale de Navigation – Lausanne
- Lloyd AG – Basel
- Neptun Reederei AG – Basel
- Panalpina Group – Basel
- Reederei Zürich AG – Zurich
- Rhenus Schifffahrt AG – Basel
- Schweizerische Schleppschiffahrtsgenossenschaft – Basel
- St. Johann Lagerhaus & Schiffahrt AG – Basel
- Société des Mouettes Genevoises Navigation SA – Geneva
- Suisse-Outremer – Geneva/Zurich
- Swiss Shipping Company & Neptun AG – Basel
- Trans-Splitt AG – Basel
- Ultra-Brag / Ultra – Basel

See also:

- Merchant Maritime Flag Use (Swiss Flags at Sea)
- Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine
- House Flags of Shipping Companies (international)
- HOUSE FLAG, FLAGS AND FUNNELS in Dictionary of Vexillology
- Sailing and Yacht Clubs of Switzerland (Index)
- Various Nautical Flags (Switzerland)
- Swiss Commercial Flags
- Switzerland
- Flags of Swiss Shipping Companies (schweizer-reedereien.ch)
- Flags of Former Swiss Shipping Companies (schweizer-reedereien.ch)
- Flags and Funnels of Swiss Shipping Companies (swiss-ships.ch)
- Flags of Swiss Rhine Shipping Companies (swiss-ships.ch)
- Swiss & Swiss based foreign flag shipowners (swiss-ships.ch)
- Houseflags of Switzerland, Austria e.a. (flagpole.de by Joseph Nüsse)
- Das Flaggenwesen in der schweizerischen Schifffahrt (by Louis Mühlemann, ICV 8, 1979, German)
- Rheinhäfen Basel (BS/BL) (PDF, 2004, German | source [retrieved])

## Acomarit Services Maritimes SA

image located by Neale Rosanoski

Acomarit Services Maritimes S.A. was formed in 1967 as a ship management and consultancy company. It merged in 2001 into V Ships Group becoming V Ships Switzerland S.A. The flag, which was shown on the Nüsse table flag site, was white with in blue with 2 wavy lines and "ACO" above "MARIT".
Neale Rosanoski, 7 August 2010

## Arosa Line

image located by Neale Rosanoski

Arosa Line was the trade name for Compañia Internacional Transportadora which was formed in 1952 by Nicolo Rizzi and became bankrupt in 1959. The flag is shown on company brochures on the http://timetables.com [not archived] but unfortunately they contradict themselves with sundry flag images showing differences as to where the white band ends are positioned, although they are consistent in showing a wider band than I have done with my image (above) which has been taken from theshipslist website, not that I give them any better credence. The format at least is unchallenged.
Neale Rosanoski, 7 August 2010

## Atlanship SA

image located by Neale Rosanoski

Atlanship S.A. was formed in 1982, Josef Nüsse showed a table flag for them, but it turns out to belong to the Canadian company of Atlantic Towing Ltd. So whether Josef had a flag for them and just got mixed up in the placing on his website is unclear, but it certainly has no resemblance to the Atlanship logo. However I have found one of their ships with a bow jack diagonally red over blue from lower hoist to upper fly which has the colours and a basic resemblance to the logo. In lieu of anything else to be found, this very simple flag would seem to be the house flag.
Neale Rosanoski, 7 August 2010

photo (funnel marking) (2012, source)

## Contal Shipping Ltd.

image located by Neale Rosanoski

Formed in 1972, the table flag of Josef Nüsse showed a horizontal multiband of a broad red central band separated by narrow white bands from blue bands at top and bottom with on the red the blue letters "CS" outlined in white and in the fly a white cross couped merging with the top white band. This table flag shows a darkish blue whereas the flag image portrayed on their website http://www.contal.ch [not archived] shows light or sky blue which fits in with the website background. Then again the panel of the flag shows on their ship funnels and it seems to be in line with this lighter shade so maybe there has been a change or of course it is merely a result of scanning or photography which do not always tell the truth when it comes to colours.
Neale Rosanoski, 7 August 2010

short portrait, German (swiss-ships.ch, retrieved from 2004)

## Dabinovic S.A.

image by Jarig Bakker

Dabinovic S.A., Geneva – 5 horizontal stripes of blue and red, proportioned c. 1:1:2:1:1.
Jarig Bakker, 1 January 2006

## Haniel Inland Shipping Company

image by Jarig Bakker

This image represents the former Haniel Inland Shipping Company in Switzerland. It shows the familiar green-white-horizontal stripes with a small Swiss canton, red with a white couped cross. Its source is the Binnenvaart flag page [image not archived] recently spotted by Jarig, but I have not (yet) found any particular page of that site showing this particular house flag.
Jan Mertens, 29 July 2006

## Hanseatic Lloyd AG

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider

The HQ is in Uttwil, Switzerland. There are branches in Bremen (shipping), Hamburg (chartering) and Singapore (terminals?). The company runs 6 container ships and 8 tankers and is operating world wide. For further information click www.hanseatic-lloyd.de (photo).

Flag: It is a white flag with the right half of a red capital 'H' and two blue capital 'L's.
Source: I took a snapshot of that flag on 20 February 2009 at Alster Lake in Hamburg.

Klaus-Michael Schneider, 16 March 2009

## Heerema Marine Contractors S.A.

image by Jarig Bakker, 1 January 2006

Heerema Marine Contractors S.A., Villars-sur-Glane – orange flag, white disk, blue "H" (probably the same company as the one on the Dutch pages).
Jarig Bakker, 10 February 2006

## Intertrans Tankschiffahrt AG

image by Jarig Bakker, 30 October 2006

The Belgian inland navigation company Plouvier also owns Intertrans, located at Schönenbuch near Basel, Switzerland. This firm, too, has a tanker fleet – its full name is Intertrans Tankschiffahrt AG. The house flag is extracted from this page: http://www.finco.be/en/portfolio.html [retrieved, on English and French versions]. It is a picture of a busy river scene rather than a classic flag, two ships seem to travel across a light blue background. In the upper part of the flag a red hull is – thanks to a white bow wave – seen advancing towards the fly; it bears the white Swiss Cross at the bow. In the lower part, a dark blue hull with white rail and wave near the bow is sailing towards the hoist. Between them is placed the company name in white italic letters.
If you (re)visit the Plouvier gallery at http://www.plouvier.be/template_gallery.asp?dsg_id=33 you will find some photographic evidence of this flag: [all these pages not archived]
http://www.plouvier.be/template_gallery2.asp?prg_id=680
http://www.plouvier.be/template_gallery2.asp?prg_id=4708
http://www.plouvier.be/template_gallery2.asp?prg_id=5850

Jan Mertens, 31 March 2006

photo, photo (source)

## Jumbo Shipping Co. S.A.

image by Jarig Bakker

Jumbo Shipping Co., S.A., Geneva – green flag, white oval rectangle, red elephant (left there by Hannibal?).
Jarig Bakker, 1 January 2006

## Keller Shipping

image located by Neale Rosanoski

Keller Shipping Ltd. was formed in 1945 and apparently still operates as maritime consultants and surveyors. Their shipping activities seemed to have started in 1953 and lasted until 1998 with their flag being white with a blue diamond frame containing a red "K" throughout sourced from U.S. Navy (1961) and the Josef Nüsse tableflags.
Neale Rosanoski, 7 August 2010

Company history (swiss-ships.ch, 2023/2025)

## Massoel Gestion Maritime SA

image located by Neale Rosanoski

Formed in 1995, the company changed its name in 2003 to Massoel Gestion S.A. and then in 2007 became Massoel Meridian Ltd. following a merger with the British management company Meridian Marine Management Ltd. The original flag was red with a white "M" with the first leg being longer and there being a white "attachment" hanging from it whilst in upper hoist was a small white cross couped with the flag sourced from the Nüsse table flags and being the band on the funnel which I confirmed by a sighting on a vessel in 2001. Since then there have been two changes in the funnel design, presumably as a result of the name changes, which produced new funnel bands which may well have resulted in new flags. Nothing sighted to confirm this to date.
Neale Rosanoski, 7 August 2010

photo funnel (source)

## Mediterranean Shipping Co., Geneva

MSC does not permit the display of its flags or logos.
For further information click https://www.msc.com.
Rob Raeside, 17 July 2015

Company history (swiss-ships.ch)

## Nauta SA

image by Rob Raeside, 17 March 2025

The Nauta SA Rhine river shipping company was founded in 1947 with its headquarters in Basel. In 1966 the company sold its fleet and diversified into the global transport sector. At least until 1998 the original flag was still in use. In 2012 Nauta splitted from the Ziegler Companies Group and became a sister company of the Leman Logistics Group of Companies, which is headquartered in Greve, Denmark (The Leman logo is displayed on the website, while the old flag seems to be abandoned).
Swisscom phonecard with the flag (The phonecard was made between 1998 [Swisscom logo] and 2001 [expiration date 5/2001]).
Photo with the flag from the time as shipping company (source).
Website: https://www.nauta.ch/en
(There is a variant of the flag on the swiss-ships.ch website, but without any further information [page under construction].)

Martin Karner, 16 March 2025

This company name is Latin for "sailor", which is apt for a Swiss company, as the country makes unusually wide use of its Latin name, Helvetia (due to being officially multilingual), even uniquely so in its ISO:3166-1 alpha-2 code, "CH" for Confoederatio Helvetica.
António Martins, 18 March 2025

## Nautilus A.G.

image located by Neale Rosanoski
flag timeline
(source)

Nautilus A.G. of Glarus started operating ships for the Swiss Government in 1940, purchasing them after the end of WW2 but got into financial difficulties in 1953 with Keller Shipping (above) becoming their managers and then taking them over the following year. Although ownership of the ships changed the brand name, Nautilus Line continued to be used and it appears likely that their livery, which included a blue flag bearing a red seahorse, continued to be used. (Source: U.S. Navy (1961)).
Neale Rosanoski, 7 August 2010

Company history (swiss-ships.ch, 2019)

## Navylloyd AG

image by Ivan Sache

Red flag with a white lozenge and a red N letter placed in the middle of the flag.
Ivan Sache, 23 August 2002

## Rondeau Holdings AG

image located by Neale Rosanoski

A Swiss subsidiary of Safmarine (South Africa) formed in 1989 and placed in liquidation in 2000. Josef Nüsse showed a table flag of white with a red circle broken by 4 narrow white horizontal wavy lines and two wider gray ones across the centre extending beyond the circle separated from each other and the red of the circle by similar white lines, all such being undefined and merging into the field. The centre of the circle is then charged with a grey circle, also edged white and bearing a white "R".
Neale Rosanoski, 7 August 2010

## St. Gotthard Schiffahrts AG

image located by Neale Rosanoski

Operating from 1962 to 1988, the company was owned by Baron H.H. Thyssen-Bornemisza, who also bought what became Suisse-Outremer Reederei AG. According to the Josef Nüsse table flags St. Gotthard had a flag of red with a blue triangle extending throughout from the hoist on which was a grey dolphin swimming to the hoist.
Neale Rosanoski, 7 August 2010

## Suisse-Atlantique Societé de Navigation Maritime SA

image by Phil Nelson

Yellow flag with a red saltire and a red star in the first and third quarters. Smith (1976) shows the same flag (on the funnel) for Maranave SA (Panama).
Ivan Sache, 23 August 2002

The flag is yellow with a red saltire and a red star in each of hoist and fly compartments. Oceana Shipping S.A. is the main ship-owning subsidiary of what is now Suisse-Outremer SA and the flag actually belongs to the parent company as shown by Brown (1958), Brown (1982), Brown (1985), U.S. Navy (1961) and http://www.swiss-ships.ch), with Stewart & Styring (1963) allocating to Oceana Shipping S.A. and Browns Flags and Funnels (1978) to another subsidiary, Maranave S.A. [it being a Panamanian company means it was a flag of convenience subsidiary].
Neale Rosanoski, 2 August 2010

Photo funnel flag (source)

Company history (swiss-ships.ch, 2015)

## Vinalmar SA
(formerly Ermefer SA)

image by Ivan Sache

Horizontally divided red-white-red flag with the white stripe larger and a red E placed in the middle of the white stripe.
Ivan Sache, 23 August 2002

The company was formed in 1970 and was part of Group Ermewa S.A. and was involved in the transportation of liquid foodstuffs. In 1978 the group, in partnership with other shipping companies began marine operations and the ships were placed under Vinalmar S.A. which had been formed in 1974 and which Lloyds show as a subsidiary of Ermefer. In 2003 the group was taken over and ceased maritime operations and in 2005 Ermefer, and presumably Vinalmar, were sold with both being liquidated at the end of 2007. The Ermefer flag was presumably flown by Vinalmar [if it bothered to fly any] as the funnel was painted in the same colours. Whether the flag was a group one or just applied to Ermefer is not known but Ermewa has a different logo on their website http://www.ermewa.com but whether it forms the basis of a flag is not shown by the site.
Neale Rosanoski, 2 August 2010