The construction of this small freighter was commissioned by U.T.C. - Union Trading Company Hamburg GmbH for the benefit of Basler Handelsgesellschaft A.G. Basel at Rickmers Rhederei GmbH, Rickmers Werft, Bremerhaven*). The ship with the hull number 257 was launched on 05.05.1951 and put into service on 26.06.1951 under the name PALME II. She sailed under the flag of the Federal Republic of Germany and Hamburg was her home port (call sign: DHNV). She was managed by the Union Trading Company, Reinhold Bange, Hamburg. The freighter's measurement was GRT: 610, NRT: 236, DWT: 936, her length was 62.47m and the construction costs were given as DM 1’245’000.
The vessel was initially employed in coastal trade from the North Sea to Spain. From 11.03.1952 to February 1953, the PALME II sailed in the West Indies for the Union Trading Caribe Company Havana, a subsidiary of the Basel Mission. Among other things, she sailed in the timber trade between Central America and Venezuela. The ship also made some voyages from Cuba to the USA. Before being sold to Keller, the PALME II sailed on a time charter for OPDR, Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampfschiffs-Rhederei GmbH Hamburg. This long-established shipping company served routes to Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
In 1953, the hull was lengthened by 4.21 m at a shipyard unknown to us. The ship now had a length of 66.68 m and the new measurement increased to GRT: 997, NRT: 614, DWT: 1234. Now used on Mediterranean voyages.
Purchased in 1954 by Keller Shipping AG, Basel and taken over on 30.12.1954 after a drydock inspection in Hamburg. The vessel was then registered as ARBEDO under the Swiss flag in Basel (owner company: Mittelmeer Reederei AG, call sign: HBDE). Arbedo is a village near Bellinzona, in 1422 the scene of a battle between the Confederates**) and the Milanese. Unfortunately, the Confederates lost the battle this time.
In 1959, the original 6-cylinder, supercharged main engine from MAN***), type: M6V 40/40 (a submarine engine) was removed and replaced by a new, somewhat more powerful 6-cylinder main engine from Gebrüder Sulzer AG, Winterthur, type: 6TAD36 with an exhaust gas turbocharger and an output of 1560 BHP. After two months in the shipyard in Genoa, the ship went back into service on 12.12.1959.
The ARBEDO was trading on the Keller Line from Genoa and the surrounding ports, to the western Mediterranean (France, Spain, Algeria), Morocco, Portugal and Vigo on the Spanish west coast. An exception was a voyage to the Red Sea from October to the end of December 1957 for the "Red Sea Service" newly founded by Keller. She visited the ports of Port Said, Jeddah, Aden, Djibouti, Assab, Massawah, Port Sudan, Suez, Beirut and Malta. The crew of about 12 was usually made up of Italians.
From 1962 the owner of ARBEDO is Keller Shipping Ltd., Basel.
In 1972 after almost 18 years of service with Keller Shipping, the vessel was sold to Greek concerns. The management company J. Mourtos Brothers (Shipping) Co. Ltd. Piraeus took over the vessel on 09.08.1072 on behalf of the owners Fridiotis Maritime Co. Ltd. The vessel was renamed as FRIDIOTIS II and registered under the Cyprus flag, home port being Famagusta (official No: 367097,call Sign: 5B2129). After the Turkish invasion 1974, the home port was moved to Limassol.
In 1981 the vessel was sold on to Vigliance Marine Co. Ltd. (Management: Elias Maritime Agency, Thessaloniki), Limassol. The name and flag were retained, so it can be assumed that the same people were pulling the strings in the background. Now the ship has been converted into a livestock-carrier in Greece.
Sold to an unnamed owner on 28.05.1987 and registered in Colombo, Sri Lanka. New name JALIL (call sign: 4QVG).
Registered in 1988 in the St. Vincent & The Grenadines Register with home port Kingstown (official No: 2319, callsign: J8RG).
Sold to Bednaiel Co. Ltd. on 21.06.1988, renamed JAFAR and registered in Kingstown, under the flag of St. Vincent & The Grenadines (official No: 2319, call Sign: J8RG). It was managed by A. Sleiman Co. & Sons, Beirut, a shipping company operating livestock-carriers.
Renamed ZAHER I on 14.01.1989, but without flag change.
Registered in 1997 under the same name under Honduras flag for Compañia Naviera Tiburon S.A. (Beirut), in San Lorenzo, Honduras (official No: L-0526178, callsign HQRE8).
Purchased in 2002 by Abbas Suleiman, Beirut. Not renamed, but registered under the flag of Lebanon (call sign: ODTZ).
Delivered to an unknown demolition company in Lebanon for scrapping on 05.08.2004.
Remarks:
*) The Rickmers Rhederei GmbH, Rickmers Werft, Bremerhaven, which had built the ship, ceased operations in June 1986.
**) Die “Eidgenossen” as the real Swiss are called, means in the English translation “Confederates”, but has nothing in common with the “ConfederateStates of America”. The official name of Switzerland is “Confoederatio Helvetica“ (CH), which in English means “Swiss Confederation”.
***) This engine is on display in the MAN Museum in Augsburg. The first engine was delivered in 1930 and about 800 units were built in total. In 1935 the first engines were installed in German submarines and after the war about 100 units were delivered for merchant ships and stationary use.
Sources:
- Federal archives, Bern
- Lloyd’s Register of Ships
- Guildhall, London
- Archive Basler Mission, Basel
SwissShips, MB, HPS, JTA, August 2021
Additional Information and Stories
Ship’s sale and purchase
Using the purchase of the PALME II as an example, we briefly explain such a transaction. A ship purchase does not happen in one day, but is a process that usually takes several months. In our case, the company Reinhold Bange, Hamburg (the ship operators) did the brokerage, obviously the sellers and the buyers knew each other very well. Usually, however, two brokers are involved, one for the seller and one for the buyer, especially in the case that seller and buyer do not know each other. After the seller has offered the vessel to the market through the broker, possibly through several brokers, hopefully several potential buyers will register their interest. After Keller Shipping had decided that they had found a suitable ship, their inspector Hermann Reinhard inspected the PALME II in Hamburg in October and drew up a report for the attention of his boss, Charles Keller. As far as we know, a company in Morocco also showed interest, but their project failed because of the import licence. Probably as reassurance, Charles Keller also sent his brother Paul, who was in charge of the Lisbon branch to Oporto to inspect the ship.
After the inspector's obviously positive report, the purchase negotiations were started and on 08.12.1954 the two parties signed the MoA, Memorandum of Agreement, as the purchase contract is called in the maritime industry. Nowadays it is customary that 10% of the purchase price must now be paid into an escrow account as security. Now the financing had to be arranged and secured, the registration and insurance of the ship had to be organised. In agreement with the sellers and the charterers, the port of handover and the handover date had to be determined. Also practical things like crew, equipment and possible repairs have to be organised and the seller arranges for a dry dock to do an underwater inspection. Inspector Reinhard and the new Chief Engineer Ghiselli from Keller Shipping had boarded the vessel in Rotterdam shortly before Christmas to monitor and get to know the operation, therefore spending Christmas at sea. Due to their presence onboard the need for a sea trial at Hamburg was deemed unnecessary.
In our case the sellers booked a dry dock with Blohm & Voss, Hamburg for the arrival of the PALME II on Monday morning 27.12.1954 and an inspection of the underwater hull by both parties was carried out. On Thursday 30.12.1954 the "closing" took place and after the sellers had received their money, the ship could be deleted from the German register and the "bill of sale" (transfer of ownership certificate) handed over, so now nothing stood in the way of handing over the ship.
Once all this is established, the classification surveyor must reissue or adjust all certificates. The fuel and lubricating oil on board, the so-called ROB (remaining on board), are then determined in a joint survey and charged separately to the buyer. The shipyard and other repair bills are to be approved and paid. Mr Reinhard was obviously a very conscientious but also fussy person and a dispute broke out with UTC Hamburg about spare parts and repairs, they were even at loggerheads over an old record player. Charles Keller had to intervene and settled the dispute on an amicable basis with the sellers.
Finally, the broker is entitled to a commission for his good services, which usually has to be paid by the seller. In our case, Union Trading Company Hamburg paid a commission of 4.0 % to Union Handels-Gesellschaft AG, Basel, which had obviously established the contact between seller and buyer.
Of course, the contracting parties are free to shape their transaction according to their own needs, so significant deviations from our description above may arise.
SwissShips, HPS, JTA, August 2021