Lloyd Triestino was a major shipping company, created in 1919 when the city of Trieste became part of Italy in the settlement after the First World War. It ran passenger services on ocean liners around the world. Seriously harmed by Second World War, in which it lost 68 ships, it recovered to run passenger services with new ships on routes as far as Australia. In 2006, with the business by then mainly container freight, the company's name was changed to Italia Marittima.
The company was founded as Österreichischer Lloyd (also called Lloyd Austriaco [1] or "Austrian Lloyd") as an insurance company in 1833. In 1836 the company went into shipping. It became one of the world's biggest shipping companies by managing most of Austria-Hungary's overseas trade and passenger travel until 1918. It ran regular services from Trieste to the Near East, India, China and the Far East, Brazil, the US and Northern Europe. It was one of the first companies to use steamships. [2]
Österreichischer Lloyd's name was changed to Lloyd Triestino in 1919, when Trieste became a part of Italy. [3] At that time, the company faced major restructuring to recover losses incurred during World War I. During this period (1919/21), special chartered sea voyages were undertaken, covering Asia, Africa and Oceania, with very distinguished passengers on board, in parallel with the delayed founding of the League of Nations. [4] By the end of the 1930s, Lloyd Triestino, with its offshoot Italia di Navigazione, was once again a major world shipping power, owning a fleet of 85 vessels with 17 services to east Africa, [5] southern Africa, Asia, and Australia. [6]
The company was crippled by the devastation of the Second World War, losing 68 ships and 1,000 sailors, including one of its most recent and famous ship, the MS Victoria which was sunk in January 1942 by British torpedoes off the coast of Libya. [7] At the end, they were reduced to a fleet of just five ships, and were again faced with a massive recovery operation.
In 1950, Lloyd Triestino launched three 13,140 GRT ocean-going passenger liners for its service to Australia: the Australia, the Oceania, and the Neptunia. All three were moved to the Italian Line in 1963, replaced by two new liners, the Guglielmo Marconi and the Galileo Galilei , each twice the size of the "trio" ships at 27,905 GRT. [8] [3] By 1956, the fleet had grown to 31 ships. A total of 199 ships were owned by Lloyd Triestino between 1919 and 2006. [3]
The illustrated travel magazine Sul Mare (Italian for 'On the Sea') was distributed on Lloyd's ships and other outlets from March 1925 to 1944, and revived after the Second World War; 148 issues were produced. Their covers were decorated with four-colour illustrations by Italian artists, many of them from Trieste, including Giorgio Settala , Vittorio Cocever , Gianni Brumatti, Glauco Cambon }, Augusto Černigoj, Marcello Claris, Marcello Dudovich, Ugo Flumiani, Giovanni Giordano Lanza , Lauro Laghi, Piero Lucano , Guido Marussig, Argio Orell, and Antonio Quaiatti. The contents were written in Italian, French, English, and German. [9] [10]
Lloyd Triestino entered into a partnership with Taiwanese shipping giant, Evergreen Marine, Corp., in 1993. [11]
The partnership grew over the years, until Evergreen bought Lloyd Triestino outright in 1998, running it in parallel to its other European affiliate, the British-based line Hatsu Marine, created in 2000.
On March 1, 2006, Lloyd Triestino's name was changed to Italia Marittima. Ship names were changed from the prefix "LT" to "Ital" (e.g., LT Cortesia to Ital Contessa). [12]
SS Conte di Savoia was an Italian ocean liner built in 1932 at the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Trieste.
Evergreen Marine Corporation is a Taiwanese container transportation and shipping company that is headquartered in Luzhu District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. With over 150 container ships, it is part of the Evergreen Group conglomerate of transportation firms and associated companies.
Italian Line and from 1992 Italia Line, whose official name was Italia di Navigazione S.p.A., was a passenger shipping line that operated regular transatlantic services between Italy and the United States, and Italy and South America. During the late 1960s the company turned to running cruises, and from 1981 it became a global freight operator.
Italia Marittima S.p.A., from 1919 until 2006 called Lloyd Triestino, founded as Österreichischer Lloyd in 1833, is a shipping company with its head office in Trieste, Italy, and run by Evergreen Marine Corporation.
SS Galileo Galilei was an ocean liner built in 1963 by Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Monfalcone, Italy for Lloyd Triestino's Italy–Australia service. In 1979, she was converted to a cruise ship, and subsequently sailed under the names Galileo and Meridian. She sank in the Strait of Malacca in 1999 as the Sun Vista.
SS Audacious was the former Italian cargo ship Belvedere taken over by the United States during World War II and sunk as a blockship at Omaha Beach on 8 June 1944. Belvedere was built in Trieste and first operated as a passenger and cargo ship when the city and company were part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I the city and ship, converted to cargo in the early 1920s, became Italian. In 1941 Belvedere was in Philadelphia when foreign ships of Axis powers were interned and then seized. The ship was taken over for operation by the War Shipping Administration through agents until scuttled at Omaha Beach.
The MS Vulcania was an Italian ocean liner built by Cantiere Navale Triestino, Monfalcone, northern Italy, in 1926 for the Italian company, Cosulich Line.
Conte Verde was an Italian ocean liner active in the early 20th century.
The Lloyd Sabaudo was a Shipping transport line formed in Turin in 1906. It began passenger service in 1907, expanding to link Italy to ports in Asia as well as North and South America. In 1932 it merged with several other Italian shipping lines to form the Italian Line.
Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) was an Italian shipping company.
The Cosulich Line, formally the Cosulich Società Triestina di Navigazione, is a steamship line that was based in Trieste, Italy. The company had been founded in 1889 by Antonio F. Cosulich's son as a family business. In 1903 as Unione Austriaca di Navigazione, more commonly called the Austro-American or Austro-Americana Line, when Trieste was under the rule of Austria-Hungary. After the first World War, the company became an Italian-based shipping company. In 1932 the company was forced to merge with the Lloyd Sabaudo and the Navigazione Generale Italiana, to form the Italian Line.
SS Taormina was a transatlantic ocean liner that was launched in Scotland in 1907 for an Italian shipping line. She was owned successively by Italia Società di Navigazione a Vapore, Lloyd Italiano and Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI). Taormina was briefly chartered as a troop ship for the US Armed Forces in 1918. She was scrapped in 1929.
SS Duilio was the first Italian super ocean liner and one of the largest Italian merchant ships until 1925. She measured 24,281 gross register tons and was the sister of the SS Giulio Cesare, which was launched in 1921. She was constructed for the Italian shipping company “Navigazione Generale Italiana” based in Genoa and constructed by Ansaldo Shipyard owned by Sestri Ponente. She was sunk on 10 July 1944.
MS Giulio Cesare was a luxurious ocean liner built for the Italian Line. She was a sister ship to MS Augustus which was launched in the same year. She was built for the South America service like her sister. These two ships' specification and design were very similar.
Savoia was a 5,490 ton refrigerated cargo ship which was built in 1922. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1941 and renamed Empire Arun. In 1947 she was sold and renamed Granlake. Further name changes were Dryad in 1949, Shiranesan Maru in 1951 and Dainichi Maru in 1962. She was scrapped in 1968.
RFA Maine was a 7,432 GRT hospital ship which was built in 1924 as the ocean liner Leonardo da Vinci by SA Ansaldo, La Spezia, Italy for the Società di Navigazione Transatlantica Italiana. In 1941, she was captured by the British at Kismayu, Italian Somaliland. Declared a prize of war, she was passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Clyde, serving as a hospital ship for the British Army during the Second World War. In 1948, ownership was passed to the Admiralty and she entered service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary as RFA Maine. She served during the Korean War and was scrapped in 1954.
Österreichischer Lloyd was the largest Austro-Hungarian shipping company. It was founded in 1833. It was based at Trieste in the Austrian Littoral, the main port of the Cisleithanian (Austrian) half of the Dual Monarchy.
SS Verona was a transatlantic ocean liner that was built in Ireland in 1908 for an Italian shipping line. She was a troop ship in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12 and in the First World War in 1917–18. In 1918 a German submarine sank her in the Mediterranean with great loss of life.
The SS Kaiser Franz Joseph I was an Austro-Hungarian passenger liner built by Cantiere Navale Triestino for the Cosulich Line. After her launching in February 1912 she was put into service and embarked on her maiden voyage from Trieste to New York City. During WWI she was laid up in Trieste but was commissioned by the Italian Navy after the war. The Kaiser Franz Joseph I, now the Presidente Wilson of the Cosulich Line was sold to another Italian company until WWII began. During The war, she was recommissioned by the navy and later laid up in La Spezia in 1943. On 12 May 1944, as the Allies advanced on Italy, the ship was scuttled by the Germans to prevent capture. Her wreck was raised and scrapped in 1949.
Barletta was an Italian cargo liner built during the 1930s and later became an auxiliary cruiser of the Regia Marina during World War II.