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Industry | Cargo and passenger shipping |
---|---|
Founded | 1910 |
Defunct | 1995 |
Fate | Defunct |
Headquarters | Oslo |
Key people | Gustav Henriksen |
Subsidiaries | Norwegian East Africa Line |
The Norwegian America Line (Norwegian : Den Norske Amerikalinje), was a shipping line, originally an operator of ocean liners and cargo ships. Founded in 1910, the company ran a regular transatlantic service between Norway and the United States, and later included a route to East Africa as well. Primarily due to competition from air travel, transatlantic passenger voyages were slowly discontinued during the years.
After the Great War, the company was one of Norway's largest shipping lines, owning a fleet that included 19 vessels, several of which were for commercial cargo transport. After the Second World War heavy ships losses were overcome by the building of new vessels, however the reduction in the passengers’ traffic by sea shifted the company’s focus mainly to the cargo business, including container and bulk shipping from the 1970s.
In 1980 the last two passenger liners were handed over into a new joint venture company (Norwegian American Cruises) with Leif Höegh & Co, and finally sold to Cunard Line in 1984.
During the 1990s NAL main business were the Roll-on/roll-off operations and sea carriage of cars, through the NOSAC brand (Norwegian Specialised Autocarcarriers), with a fleet of nearly 20 vessels, then acquired by Wilh. Wilhelmsen in 1995. [1]
Ship | Built | In service for NAL | Shipyard | Tonnage | Notes | |
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![]() | SS Kristianiafjord | 1913 | 1913–17 | Cammell Laird in Birkenhead UK. | 10,699 GRT | Sunk 1917. |
![]() | SS Bergensfjord | 1913 | 1913–40 | Cammell Laird in Birkenhead UK. | 10,666 GRT | Reused by Britain in 1940. |
![]() | SS Stavangerfjord | 1917 | 1917–40 1945–64 | Cammell Laird in Birkenhead UK. | 12,977 GRT | Captured by Germany in 1940, returned to NAL in 1945. Scrapped 1964. |
![]() | MS Oslofjord (1937) | 1938 | 1938–40 | Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau Germany | 18,673 GRT | Sunk after hitting a mine on the River Tyne, 1940. [4] |
![]() | MS Oslofjord (1949) | 1949 | 1949–67 | Netherlands Dock and Shipbuilding Company | 16,844 GRT | Chartered to Greek Line 1967. From 1968 onwards sailed for Costa Cruises.Caught fire and sank 1970 off Tenerife, Canary Islands. |
![]() | MS Bergensfjord (1955) | 1956 | 1956–71 | Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, UK | 18,739 GRT | Sold to French Line as De Grasse, 1971. Caught fire, and sank in 1980. Wreck still visible at Pireaus, Greece. [5] |
| MS Sagafjord | 1965 | 1965–83 | Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, France | 24,002 GRT | Sold to Cunard Line 1983. Sold to Saga Cruises 1997 and renamed Saga Rose. Scrapped 2009. |
![]() | MS Vistafjord | 1973 | 1973–83 | Swan Hunter, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom | 24,292 GRT | Sold to Cunard Line in 1983. Renamed Caronia in 1999. Sold in 2004, renamed Saga Ruby for Saga Cruises. Scrapped 2017. |
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Ship | Built | In service for NAL | Type | Tonnage | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SS Trondhjemsfjord | 1911 | 1914–15 | ocean liner | 4,248 GRT | Sunk 28 July 1915 by torpedo. |
SS Norefjord | 1919 | 1921–49 | cargo ship | 3,082 GRT | Ran aground, captured and beached by rebels, shelled by the Indonesian Navy and burnt out 1958. Scrapped 1966. |
SS Foldenfjord | 1921 | 1921–28 | tanker ship | 7,038 GRT | Sunk by Japanese submarine I-25 on October 5, 1942. |
SS Mari SS Oslofjord | 1923 | 1923 1923–30 | 215 GRT | ||
MS Skiensfjord | 1958 | 1958–77 | freighter, few passengers | 3,787 GRT | Sold to Southalnd Maritime Inc. v/Diamantides Maritime Co. Ltd, Pireus, Greece 1977 and renamned Diamant. Sold to Jebel Ali National Marine, Dubai, UAE 1980 and renamed Jebel Ali 2. Sold to Mohammed Khalifa Bin Salama Al-Hamaly, Dubai, UAE 1983 and renamed Salamah 5. Renamed Al Qasim 1987 & scrapped that year. [6] |
The former headquarters of the shipping company (1919 – 1983) with ticket office and administration is still an iconic building in central Oslo. It was rebuilt inside and opened in March 2019 as a boutique hotel. The hotel took the name Amerikalinjen. [7]
The Cunard Line is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been registered in Hamilton, Bermuda.
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Swedish American Line was a Swedish passenger shipping line. It was founded in December 1914 under the name Rederiaktiebolaget Sverige-Nordamerika and began ocean liner service from Gothenburg to New York in 1915. In 1925 the company changed its name to Svenska Amerika Linien / Swedish American Line.
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Norddeutscher Lloyd was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was instrumental in the economic development of Bremen and Bremerhaven. On 1 September 1970, the company merged with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.
Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA (WWH) is a Norwegian multinational maritime group, headquartered in Lysaker, Norway. The group employs more than 21,000 people and has operations in 75 nations. The Wilhelmsen group operates the largest maritime network in the world, with over 2200 locations worldwide.
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MS Oslofjord was an ocean liner built in 1938 by A/G Weser Shipbuilders, Bremen, Germany, for Norwegian America Line. She was of 18,673 gross register tons and could carry 860 passengers. She would have an uneventful career until 1939 were two separate incidents happened. One from 27 April 1939, where she collided with the American an pilot boat, and another where she struck a mine sinking her.
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SS Stavangerfjord was a Norwegian passenger ocean liner that sailed for the Norwegian America Line between Norway and the United States and sailed periodically to Canada. She was the third ship of the Norwegian American Line, and similar to the company's first two ships. SS Stavangerfjord was built by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, England. The ship was launched on 21 May 1917, and was put into service in April 1918. The ship sailed to New York and due to World War I, it did not arrive in Bergen until 21 September 1918. In 1924 her fuel was converted from coal to oil combustion.
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