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Brazil is the largest producer of orange juice and a large part is controlled by the local Cutrale family www.cutrale.com. The orange trees are mainly grown in the State of Sao Paulo and the fruit juice is exported through the port of Santos *). In December 1982 they founded Atlanship S.A. in Lausanne to ship and distribute the orange juice to their clients worldwide. Since the foundation of the company it was administered by Mr. Vazmoslav Pavesic. Presently 14persons are employed in the head office.

Before the transport was done in drums on conventional reefer ships. Also ORANGE STAR transported on her first voyage juice in drums, before her conversion to a juice carrier.

The first ship ordered from a Norwegian shipyard was the ORANGE BLOSSOM, the first purpose-built fruit juice carrier in the world, delivered in 1985. One year later followed the ORANGE STAR, a former reefer vessel, converted into a juice carrier by Bremer Vulkan in Bremen-Vegesack.

At first the technical management und building supervision of the first two ships was made by Suisse-Outremer Reederei AG in Zürich, but already in September 1987 Atlanship took over the technical management of their two ships.

The fleet grew over the years from one ship in 1985 to a considerable fleet of 13 units in 2026. In 2014, Cutrale also acquired the banana company Chiquita Brands International. Half of the company belongs to the Safra family, a Lebanese/Brazilian family with strong ties to Switzerland. At present 13 units are owned, of which 6 ships are reefer container vessels for the carriage of banana (Chiquita). The vessels trade worldwide, but mainly from Brazil to Continental Europe (Rotterdam), USA, and to the Far East.

In 1990 Atlanship moved their office to the present location in La Tour-de-Peilz, a small town between Montreux and Vevey on the upper end of Lake Geneva. First their place of business was in 1 Route de Chailly, but later moved to the stately, old manor house Château de la Becque, located at Route de Saint-Maurice 74, the main road along the lake.

The head office in Switzerland takes care about all financial matters, insurance, transport of the juice and by-products, personnel, chartering etc. and the office in Rotterdam, the subsidiary company Continental Juice Terminal B.V. established in 1985, runs its own juice terminal in the Ijsselhaven in Rotterdam (Haven 260, between the Euromast and Schiedam) and maintains the technical and purchasing department for the juice and container fleet, therefore the superintendents are close to their vessels. The Company has the know-how and technical experience in the design of newbuildings, contracting and supervision of construction. Meanwhile two technical superintendents are employed in the Swiss office, mainly taking care of the 6 container vessels, of which 5 ships are trading exclusively to the USA (three units to the East Coast and two to West Coast).        

Sources:

*) The immigrant Giuseppe Cutrale from Sicily began earning his bread as an orange trader at a market in Sao Paulo. After the Second World War, he tried to sell oranges to Europe. It was his son José Cutrale (1926-2004) who founded the company Sucocítrico Cutrale Ltda. in 1968 in the city of Araraquara, a place about 300 km northwest of Sao Paulo in the federal state of Sao Paulo, who managed to become the world's largest producer and trader of orange juice products, mainly concentrate, and their by-products, such as citric pulp and peel for mixing with cattle feed, but also used as "essential oil" for the pharma and the cosmetic industry. The company owns orange trees plantations and orange juice factories, mainly in Sao Paulo state, Brazil. Meanwhile, Cutrale also trades in other fruits and even soybeans. The company employs about 10,000 people. In 2014, Cutrale also acquired the banana company Chiquita Brands International.

SwissShips HPS July 2026

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