^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Dutch Houseflags of Shipping Companies [o]

Oceaan
van Oord, Venray
Oost Atlantic Lijn
Oranje Nassau
Oranje Verzekeringen houseflag and penant
K.N. Overmeer & Zn
Overzeese Scheepvaart Mij

See also:

Oceaan

by Jarig Bakker, 22 Oct 2003

N.V. Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij "Oceaan", Amsterdam - blue with a white diamond charged with NSMO in black.
Source: houseflagchart attached to the magazine "De Blauwe Wimpel", April 1956.
Jarig Bakker, 22 Oct 2003

Formed 1891 by the British company Alfred Holt & Co. with sources up to WW2 showing the Holt flag being used and with this association and the Oceaan flag being of similar design I would imagine that the blue would be a dark shade. Sources agree with the version shown apart from Brown 1951 which shows blue letters with dots after them.
Neale Rosanoski, 7 Jan 2004

van Oord, Venray

image by Eugene Ipavec, 26 Apr 2006

Van Oord Handel en Transport (“Van Oord Trade and Transport”) BV is situated at Venray, a town in the Dutch province of Limburg, not far from the River Maas. The company website shows the house flag on the first page and throws in a (simplified) animated gif for good measure.

A wedge or triangle containing the national colours has its base on the hoist and reaches the end of the flag, leaving two triangles the upper one of which is green and the lower one, yellow.

Unfortunately, this striking combination is defaced by the company name in white letters: ‘Van Oord’ (large) at the top of the green triangle, ‘Handel en Transport b.v.’ (small) at the bottom of the yellow one. The animated gif does not show the name.

See the ‘Handel en Transport’ section for a photo of the barge ‘En Avant’ (first photo, clickable): this particular flag does not seem to carry the full company name after all.

Van Oord sells, and delivers, various sorts of sand, gravel, chalk, recycled materials, etc. for the construction industry, mainly concrete works. Several inland vessels, some of them specialized, a pontoon, and a sand suction dredger are operated by the company.

A member of the Van Oord Doorwerth Holding, the firm cooperates with Eurocem which is a cement supplier.

Note: there does not seem to be any connection with its namesake(s) present on the FOTW-website.
Jan Mertens, 25 Apr 2006

Oost Atlantic Lijn

by Jarig Bakker, 17 Nov 2005

Oost Atlantic Lijn B.V., Rotterdam - horizontal red - white - green - red flag; over the two central stripes "OAL". (Eastern Atlantic Line).
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995.
Jarig Bakker, 17 Nov 2005

Oranje Nassau

by Jarig Bakker, 26 January 2005

Scheepvaart Maatschappij Oranje Nassau, Rotterdam - blue flag. white diamond, yellow lion rampant; at hoist top and fly bottom yellow "ON".
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26]
Jarig Bakker, 26 January 2005

Oranje Verzekeringen

image by Eugene Ipavec, 14 May 2006

Presenting a remarkable flag of an insurance company, water-related but also waterborne: Oranje Verzekeringen, and I only identified it in a roundabout way.
To begin, the Dutch ‘Marktplaats’ site, comparable to eBay, had an unknown flag on offer (no. 1861452513, seen in January 2006, now withdrawn), a white initial ‘O’ on a horizontally divided flag orange-green-orange. Unknown but handy when encouraging some Dutch sports team, so the comment ran!

That same flag was found on the ‘Vlootschouw’ pages, in real life – rectangular flag on photo of the ‘MVS Antigoon’ – and as a drawing, but now in pennant shape. It was identified as the house flag of Oranje Verzekeringen. Website of this company with offices in Groningen and Zwijndrecht:
In 1905, six Dutch shippers wanted to extend their area of operations to Denmark. Because normal insurance premiums were excessively high, they decided to found a mutual insurance company with the patriotic name, Oranje. After some years, the definitive name ‘Oranje Onderlinge Verzekering van Schepen’ (Orange Mutual Ships’ Insurance) was introduced.

Still going strong, Oranje is a premier inland navigation insurance company expanding into the pleasure craft and charter fleet market. This includes the well-known Dutch houseboats! (Traditional insurance contracts are offered as well.)

The company site shows on its logo a long penant. (This version does not show the green stripe slightly smaller than the orange ones, as seems to be the case
with the flag.)
Jan Mertens, 13 May 2006

Oranje Verzekeringen penant

image by Jarig Bakker, 23 May 2006

Following Jan Mertens' report about a flag on Ebay I have sighted the flag of that insurance company several times on ships in the Kostverlorenvaart near my home in Amsterdam. Today I saw it once more on a touring ship for elderly people, the "Vita-Pugna" based in Gennep in north Limburg. On the stem the ship had a small penant, nearly identical to the flag of Oranje Verzekeringen, except that the green stripe was tapering, and the "O" a bit rectangular.
Jarig Bakker, 23 May 2006

K.N. Overmeer & Zn

by Jarig Bakker, 18 May 2006

A striking flag in purple and yellow is flown by ‘K.N. Overmeer & Zn BV’ (K.N. Overmeer & Son Ltd), a freighting company located in Amsterdam and having offices in Rotterdam and Getmold on the Mittellandkanal, Northern Germany (‘Overmeer Schifffahrt & Transport GmbH’).

Flag found at this webpage and photos showing the flag flying on the Amsterdam office and a tugboat, respectively on this site and this one: Yellow field with purple wedge or triangle based on the hoist and extending all the way to the fly; on the triangle ‘OVERMEER’ in yellow letters without serifs and the ‘O’ somewhat larger.

Some facts gleaned from the company website (admittedly the Dutch text is more informative than the versions in other languages).
Founded after WWII by J.L. Overmeer Sr, member of a family active in inland navigation, organizing shipments to France. Officially the firm exists since 1961 at which time K.N. Overmeer took over his father’s business. Transport to and from Germany started about 1975. Another generation appeared on the scene beginning of the 'eighties in the person of J.L.Overmeer Jr, the ‘Zn’ (son) mentioned above.

Overmeer expanded in the ‘nineties thanks to the abolition of freighting restrictions and also to an important enlargement of the area of operations (Main-Danube Canal, also Mittellandkanal). In order to deal with increased business, two offices were established: one at Rotterdam, the other at Getmold in Germany (starting 1 March 2006).

The company owns barges but rents them as well and is assisted by private bargemen under contract.

Overmeer may not be a very large company but its house flag is not a run-of-the-mill affair, at least where the colours are concerned.
Jan Mertens, 3 Apr 2006

Overzeese Scheepvaart Mij

by Jarig Bakker, 10 Jan 2005

Overzeese Scheepvaart Maatschappij, Amsterdam (Overseas Shipping Society) - horizontal Orange - Blue - White - Blue - Orange; on white blue "OSM".
Source: Scott, R.M., The Caltex book of Flags and Funnels, Capetown, Caltex Africa Ltd. (1959).
Jarig Bakker, 10 Jan 2005