HISTORY OF SUISSE-OUTREMER
1949 Foundation of "Transports MaritimesSuisse-Outremer SA (TMSO) in Geneva.
Purchase of m/s ANUNCIADA and entry in the Swiss register. The owner is Banque Pictet & Cie., Genève. The ship is managed by Alpina Transport & Affrêtements S.A. in Antwerp, a subsidiary of Schweizerische Reeederei AG (SRAG) in Basel. Until 1953, ship sails grain for the Swiss Federal Grain Administration. Two trips to Port Churchill in Hudson Bay in the summer (no radar!).
1952 m/s ALLOBROGIA is built in Flensburg and put into operation under the Swiss flag. Operation is also carried out by Alpina Transport & Affrêtements S.A. This ship is a sister ship of the BASILEA, which was later built by the same shipyard.
1953 Foundation of the operating company "Suisse-Outremer S.A. de Gerance et Affretements Maritimes" in Geneva, for the purpose of operating the two ships in-house. Director Jean Fornet, Technical Director Alfred Lüssi.
1954 Ship management of m/s FLORIDA, owner Bogdan G. Pusich from Suhr, Canton Aargau. German crew.
1957 April, Suisse-Outremer takes over the management of m/s NYON from Suisse-Atlantique. Unfortunately, the ship ran aground on November 15th, 1958 on the east coast of Scotland near St. Abbs Head, so the management by Suisse-Outremer was also over.
1959 The ARIANA is built in Emden at the "Nordseewerke" shipyard and put into operation under Swiss flag. It is a luxury class cargo ship with space for 10 passengers. It was chartered out to the "Deutsche Afrika Linien" because its concept was a good fit for their line to South and East Africa.
1961 Takeover of m/s CASTAGNOLA, general cargo ship built in Flensburg for the "St. Gotthard Schiffahrts-AG", Chur Switzerland, a company owned by Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (Born in Scheveningen (NL) 3. April 1921 - † 27. April 2002 Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain - Citizen of Lugano Switzerland). It was his first ship under the Swiss flag.
In addition to his art collection, Baron H. H. Thyssen had a second "weakness": shipping. Even before World War II, the "Halcyon-Line" in Rotterdam belonged to the Thyssen-Bornemisza group and dealt only with ore and coal transports. Since the Baron also had a 25% stake in the Flensburger Schiffsbaugesellschaft, 6 ships were built there for the "Halcyon Line", one of which, the later CASTAGNOLA, was designed as a general cargo ship, an tween deck was drawn in, the loading gear was expanded and reinforced. She was put into service on May 16, 1961 as the Baron's first Swiss flagged ship. At that time, he lived in the Villa "Favorita" in Castagnola, near Lugano, which probably explains the names of the ships.
1962 Construction and takeover of the first two reefer ships under the Swiss flag CALANCA and CASTANEDA for "St. Gotthard Schiffahrts-AG, Chur". Both ships run in the pool with the shipping company "Dammers & van der Heide", Rotterdam. The Gusto shipyard in Schiedam was also part of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group.
1961 Takeover of the two multi-purpose freighters RHIN and RHONE built in Gdansk. Both ships belong to the "Socef" in Zurich, a subsidiary of the shipping company "Louis Dreyfus & Cie.", Paris. The Baron has a third share in the ships. Both sail under Swiss flag in the liner service of SEAS, an association of French shipping companies between South America's east coast and Hamburg.
1963 Sale of the 3 ships of Banque Pictet to Suisse-Atlantique in Lausanne. The SUISSE-OUTREMER shipping company is taken over by Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. At the same time the head office is relocated to Zurich. Alfred Lüssi is the new director.
1966 Sale of m/s RHIN.
1967 Sale of m/s RHONE.
1966 Construction and takeover of m/s CASSARATE at the Warnow shipyard in Warnemünde.
1967 The sister ship CARIBIA follows, both sailing under the Swiss flag. The owners are the companies of Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.
1969 Takeover of the fully automatic refrigerated ship FAVORITA, built in Dunkirk. The ship comes from a series of 8 ships for various French shipping companies. It is the first ship to fly the Liberia flag from SUISSE-OUTREMER. It is chartered to the "Cie. Generale Transatlantique" in Paris for 10 years.
1970 Takeover of m/s CAVALLINO, a refrigerated ship built in La Rochelle, also flying the Liberia flag. The ship sails in the pool with the shipping company "Dammers & van der Heide".
1974 Sale of m/s CAVALLINO to Morocco.
1975 Sale of m/s CASTAGNOLA to Peru.
1976 Construction and takeover of m/s CERESIO, built in Niteroi near Rio de Janeiro and launched under the Liberia flag. This was a general cargo ship of the type SD-14, from a series that Hamburg-Süd had built in Brazil.
1977, February: Sale of the two refrigerated ships CALANCA and CASTANEDA to US Greeks.
The ALBAFRIGO, ex CALANCA lay in the Bay of Panama from March 14, 1980 to 1985 with a broken crankshaft.
1978 - April 1st the long-time director Alfred Lüssi retires. His successor is Rolf Greter. The shipping company is renamed "Suisse-Outremer Reederei AG".
1979 as of 1.1. the takeover of the OBO fleet of the shipping company "Johannes Fritzen und Sohn" in Emden, which belonged to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group. The ships DORADO 42,979 DWT, BALBINA and MOZART, each 84,000 DWT and RECIFE and YEMANJA, each 150,000 DWT. This required a move to larger offices at Winterthurerstrasse 92 in Zurich and an increase in the technical staff and accounting.
After the early death of the family shipowner Klaus Fritzen, Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza saved this company by taking it over and merging it with the "Halcyon Line". The latter's ships were soon liquidated. The name "Fritzen-Halcyon Line, as well as the liaison office in New York that Mr. Proeller ran, was only available to the shippers.
1979 as of 07/10 sale of the DORADO to China.
In 1979 the shipping company Fritzen in Emden took over the construction supervision for a 312,000-ton supertanker s/ t SETTEBELLO at Setenave in Portugal. Due to years of delay in construction, the contract with the shipyard was finally terminated and the ship was not accepted. This story lasted until 1982.
1980 Sale of m/s CASSARATE and CARIBIA to Hong Kong owners.
1980 Takeover of the yacht HANSE belonging to the Baron. A new line of business is opened. As a result, several large yacht operations, e.g. BLUE CLOUD III, BLUE SHADOW, MARIA ALEXANDRA, ANJA YLINA.
Between 1980 and 1981 the three OBOs ALEXANDER, AUGUST THYSSEN and KASZONY built at Bremer Vulkan were built and taken over. The OBOs belong to the Thyssen-Bornemisza group. All OBO's sailing under the Liberia flag.
1980 to 1981 the two large refrigerated vessels ALBULA and BERNINA are built and taken over from the shipyard "Stocznia Gdanska" in Gdansk / Poland. Both sail under the Swiss flag and receive a long-term time charter with a subsidiary of Noboa in Ecuador.
1983 In that year the following ships were sold abroad: BALBINA, MOZART, RECIFE, YEMANJA, CERESIO and FAVORITA.
1983 to 1984 ship management of two Italian reefer vessels, PUNTABIANCA and PUNTA VERDE. These belonged to the Roman subsidiary of NOBOA in Ecuador. Unfortunately, due to a dispute over warranty with the engine manufacturer FIAT, they had to be put in place for a long time.
1984 Takeover of the VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) steam turbine tanker TIBURON for German owners under Liberia flag, off the Persian Gulf. The ship was hit by an Iraqi Exocet missile 7 days later and the insurance declared it a total loss. Unfortunately, there were 8 deaths among the crew. A German 2nd engineer and 7 Spaniards from the machine crew. The cargo of 250,000 tons of crude oil was recovered undamaged.
1984 to 1985, for approx. 10 months ship management of two Liberia tankers for a Geneva bank, which wanted to use it to repay mortgage debts. The ships were called HASSAN B and BLUE OCEAN.
1984 Takeover of the bulk carrier FAVORITA (II) from the shipyard "Astilleros de Bilbao", flying the Liberia flag. The ship was sold in 1985 after 10 months of operation.
From 1987 to 1993, Suisse-Outremer also worked as Lloyd's Broker for Switzerland, but this task was given up when J. Johannsen retired.
1987 Sale of the three OBOs ALEXANDER, AUGUST THYSSEN and KASZONY to Norway.
Due to the worsening market situation, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group was no longer interested in this ships.
The shipping company "Suisse-Outremer", as well as the ships CASTAGNOLA, CALANCA, CASTANEDA, FAVORITA, ALBULA and BERNINA were the private property of the Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, whereas the OBO fleet entirely Thyssen-Bornemisza-Group.
1988 After Baron Thyssen finally retired into private life, the two reefer vessels ALBULA and BERNINA were sold to a Greek shipowner.
1989 As a result of the Baron's withdrawal, the shares in Suisse-Outremer were sold and the change of hands took place on November 1, 1989 to new Swiss investors.
The previous director Rolf Greter left the company and Mr. Paul Preisig became the new director. He brings a fleet of 3 Rhine ocean-going vessels, SEA RHINE, SIX MADUN and LAI DA TOMA.
1990 Commissioning of the general cargo ship MARTIN P, which is used in tramping under the Swiss flag.
The ship was pressed aground in a hurricane in December 1999 in Istanbul, whereupon it had to be declared a total loss.
The shipping company had already ceased operations. The remaining ships were handed over to the friendly shipping company ABC Maritime AG, Nyon.
J. J. -SwissShips October 30, 2002
