Overview of the company history

Already in May 1948 Fritz Ritter-Dreier, board member of BRAG, Basler Rheinschiffahrt AG and his brother Ernst Ritter, a merchant of Basel wrote an application to the federal council to obtain permission to fly the Swiss flag at sea. The two gentlemen had signed a contract on 10.03.1948 with the Italian shipyard M&B Benetti in Viareggio to build a coastal freighter, similar to the LAUPEN of Keller Shipping, Basel. The intended name for the vessel was GENERAL WILLE, should the family Wille agree to this proposal. General Ulrich Wille (1848 - 1925) was commander-in-chief of the Swiss Army during World War I, but he was also a politically controversial person. According to Fritz Ritter's letter from May 1948 the vessel should be first employed in the Mediterranean liner service of Keller Shipping, but later switched to a combined Rhine/sea service between Basel, Antwerp and England. However, one can ask, how this vessel with around 4 meters draft and a considerable height could navigate the river Rhine to reach Basel.

Early 1949, on 6th. January the company BRAG Maritime Ltd. Basel was founded, which took over the building contract of the freighter. The majority of the shares belonged to BRAG, Basler Rheinschiffahrt AG, a large barge operator on the river Rhine. The remainder was owned by Fritz Ritter and Ernst Ritter. Together with Kurt Girard, director of BRAG, Fritz Ritter and Ernst Ritter formed the board of directors.

In June 1949 the shipping company submitted its definite application to register the ship, but now they proposed the unproblematic name MISOX, probably the family Wille did not agree or the company wished to avoid any unpleasant discussions.

After completion the MISOX was delivered to her owners BRAG Maritime Ltd. on 20.09.1949. The commercial exploitation was allocated to Keller Shipping, trading her in the Mediterranean Sea. The technical and personnel management apparently was carried out to a large extent by BRAG itself, as operator of a fleet of river barges certainly enough expertise was available in house.

Obviously the venture with this coastal freighter enjoyed no big success and the gentlemen Ritter and Girard lost their desire to breathe the scent of the wide world, after only three years of service the MISOX was sold to Keller Shipping. No further deep sea vessels followed and all maritime activities of BRAG were suspended. However the company continued to operate successfully a large fleet of river barges.

SwissShips, HPS, January 2016