As with all shipping companies in Lugano, the Italian speaking, southern part of Switzerland, little was known by Swiss seamen about these companies, perhaps because mainly Italian and Spanish seamen were employed. Occasionally an Italian sailor on board a Keller ship would incidentally say "look another Swiss ship, belongs to Tuillier in Lugano", but this was about all people knew. Spanish seamen were said, have also referred to "World Shipping, Lugano".

The late ship owner Dr. Sebastiano Tuillier of Lugano lived from 1910 to 1982. His family originated from France and with the invasion of Malta in 1798 by Napoleon I, they came first to this island. However already in 1800 the French retreated under English pressure from Malta, which became a British crown colony. For the French it became impossible to remain in Malta and his ancestors moved on to Sicily. The father of Sebastiano had a hairdressing saloon in Catania and young lad spent long hours strolling around in the port, looking at the tall ships.

Before World War II, at the age of 23 years Mr. Sebastiano Tuillier commenced his own shipping business (according to Lloyd's Confidential Index, December 1967, he started in 1934). With the help of his family, he bought his first ship, the small cargo steamer ESTERINA, which was registered in Catania. In 1939 this vessel was sold. Two other, elderly vessels were purchased in 1940 and registered in Lussinpiccolo. At the time this port south of Rijeka was Italian, but in 1947 came to Yugoslavia and today it is called Mali Losinj and belongs to Croatia (before WW I during the Austro-Hungarian Empire it was called Klein Lötzing). One vessel was again named ESTERINA, the other one was the SENIO.

During the World War II Sebastiano Tuillier was in the Italian Navy and he was stationed in Venice, organising the convoys to supply the troops in Albania. As Dr. Tuillier had no time to run the vessels during his military service, he gave them to his friend Mr. Ubaldo Gennari at Pescara for management (his son Torquato Romano Gennari moved his shipping business also to Lugano).

After leaving the Navy in 1943 he lived first in Venice, later on moved to Genoa, during this time he purchased another 2 vessels the CAPO MANARA and the ESPERANZA, both flying the Italian flag.

After the WW II the fleet of Dr. Sebastiano Tuillier grew steadily and was first operated from his office in Genoa, but in the early fifties the office was moved to Lugano, Switzerland. The ship's crews were always from Italy and Spain, later some seamen from Yugoslavia joined as well. Mr. Sebastiano Tuillier had two sons, Natale, born in 1942 and Eugenio, born in 1948. Around 1977 he and his two sons became Swiss citizens. According to old Lloyd's Confidential Index books, the fleet of Mr. Sebastiano Tuillier consisted in 1967 of 22 vessels, in 1971 a peak was reached with 29 ships and in 1977 the fleet was down to 19 vessels. The ships sailed mostly under the flags of Liberia or Panama.

In the year 1949 the Swiss Company San Giorgio S.A. di Navigazione, Chur was founded, owning the two cargo steamers GENEROSO and SAN SALVATORE, both sailing under Swiss flag. The management of the vessels was carried out by the owners through their operating office San Giorgio S.A. di Navigazione, Via Ariosto 1, Lugano. The Swiss Government pushed the owners to operate and control the vessels from Switzerland. They asked the Italian ship owner Dr. Sebastiano Tuillier from Genoa to move to Switzerland and supervise the operation of the ships. Therefore we assume, they formed an office partnership, with Mr. Tuillier looking after his own ships and consulting on behalf of San Giorgio S.A. Apparently this arrangement was not a great success and Eugenio Tuillier said, he remembers his father often saying "to work with partners is always a difficult and tricky business..". The GENEROSO was sold in 1952 to an owner in Genoa and was changed to Italian flag, but retained her name and remained under the management of Mr. Tuillier until 1961, when eventually she was scrapped in Italy. The SAN SALVATORE was already sold for demolition in 1953. Today we may wonder, that Mr. Tuillier moved under these unfavourable conditions to Lugano, but considering the confused political conditions after the World War II in Italy this becomes understandable.

After the San Giorgio S.A. di Navigazione closed down in 1953, Dr. Sebastiano Tuillier remained in Lugano until his death. For many years he operated his own ships from the same office at the Via Ariosto 1, Lugano, before moving to other offices.

In the 1960ties Dr. Sebastiano Tuillier got an exclusive contract to ship bauxite from Takoradi, Ghana to the alumina smeltering plants in Burntisland, Scotland (on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth opposite Edinburgh) and to Newport, Wales (on the Bristol Channel near Cardiff). Some sources say this lasted from 1959 until the late 60ties, around 10 to 12 years, another one says from 01.04.1961 until 18.05.1973. Apparently the main reason was, that the relatively small and old ships of the fleet of Mr. Sebastiano Tuillier still could enter the old and narrow harbour in Burntisland.

Ships noted to enter Burntisland were the EUGENIO and MARGA, the two "Empire Ships" ROBERTINA and UJE, as well as ACTIVITY, LOYALITY and SINCERITY all motor tween deckers and ex P. Henderson & Co, Glasgow ships ("Paddy Henderson").

Afterwards the contract reportedly was awarded to a Norwegian consortium, headed by Klaveness, using self-unloading bulk carriers, which unloaded their cargo into barges.

The two sons joined their father's company at an early stage, Mr. Eugenio Tuillier commenced to work in the office in 1969. When Eugenio joined his father's business, the company was already called Borromini S.A. and their offices were still at Via Ariosto 1, Lugano, later the offices were moved to Via Carlo Maderno 18. Another office was maintained in London, called Transtrade Shipping Ltd., Ludgate House, 110-111 Fleet Street, London.

In 1978 Sebastiano Tuillier suffered from a stroke, from which he never recovered until he finally died in 1982. The two sons Natale and Eugenio Tuillier had to take over and lead the business of the company. Already before the death of Sebastiano Tuillier it was decided to split up the fleet between the two brothers. In 1981 Eugenio Tuillier founded Intermarine SA, Lugano and in 1982 his brother Natale followed and established Tecnomar SA, Lugano. Borromini S.A. was closed down in 1985.

INTERMARINE S.A, LUGANO

This company of Eugenio Tuillier commenced his own business in 1981 at via Besso 41, Lugano. He received from his father's fleet the LUGANO, the SAN SALVADOR. The SAN SALVADOR was an elderly tanker of 19'000 dwt, built 1959 and she was in bad condition, therefore she was scrapped quickly.

The company did business in Lugano until 1985, then it was closed down and Mr Eugenio Tuillier moved his fleet to Monaco, where he established Arminter SAM, Monaco.

TECNOMAR S.A. LUGANO

This company belonged to Natale Tuillier and existed from 1982 until 1986. The office was located above the railway station of Lugano at via Breganzona 16. He received from the Borromini fleet 3 ships, namely LOCARNO, EUGENIA I, ROZELBAY and the FAIRNESS, later some other vessels were purchased or taken into management. The FAIRNESS was a bulkcarrier of 37,680 dwt, built in 1977. However, the good luck left Natale and in 1986 the company went bankrupt. Mr. Natale Tuillier died in 1996 in a car crash in Croatia.

ARMINTER S.A.M., MONACO

In 1985 Eugenio Tuillier moved to Monaco and founded two years later the Monaco registered company Arminter S.A.M., Monaco and the vessels of Intermarine were transferred into the management with this company. Today the company is still in business, presently operating 2 large, modern bulk carriers, see also www.arminter.com

We thank Mr. Eugenio Tuillier and the staff of Arminter, Monaco for their kind assistance to compile this interesting history.

EXTRACTS FROM LLOYD'S CONFIDENTIAL INDEX (LCI)

These books gave the following main informations:

From LCI 1967-12: Sebastiano Tuillier, Via Ariosto 1, Lugano (since 1934) Agents: Purvis Shipping Co. Ltd. St. Clare House, 30-33 Minories, London Fleet: 22 vessels

From LCI 1971-06: World Shipping S.A., Via Ariosto 1, Lugano (since 1969) Agents: Purvis Shipping Co. Ltd. St. Clare House, 30-33 Minories, London Fleet: 29 vessels

From LCI 1977-09: World Shipping S.A. c/o Internautical Service Establishment, Vaduz, Liechtenstein (since 1969) Agents: Transtrade Shipping Ltd., Ludgate House, 110-111 Fleet Street, London, E.C. 4 Fleet: 19 vessels

SwissShips, HPS, March 2014