Dutch Houseflags of Shipping Companies [s]

Last modified: 2006-08-19 by jarig bakker
Keywords: salahadji | ssm | solleveld | spliethoff | shipdock | smits | sanara |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

• Salahadji
• Salka, Zwijndrecht
• Sanara, Rotterdam
• Sauer Bevrachtingen
• Scaldis
• Scandutch
• Scheepvaart- en Steenkolen Maatschappij
• Seatrade Groningen
• Shipdock, Amsterdam
• Scheepswerf Slob
• Slurink bunkering houseflag & burgee
• Piet Smit Sleepdienst
• Smits
• Solleveld & Co.
• Spliethoff
• Stoffers B.V. houseflag, penant

• The Netherlands
• The Netherlands - Index of all pages
• Houseflags of Dutch Shipping Companies
• Houseflags of Shipping Companies

Salahadji

Scheepvaart en Petroleum Maatschappij Salahadji, Amsterdam (Shipping and Petrol Co Salahadji) - white flag with blue/yellow saltire; in center white diamond, blue "FH". The Salahadji was an old ship of the Shell-group - I have no idea what "FH" represents. Salahadji is a little port in SE Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia.
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26]
Jarig Bakker, 30 January 2005

Salka

Salka Handels- en Transportmaatschappij BV has an unusual logo – to say the least – shown on this Vlootschouw page.
Almost halfway down, it appears to be a heap of variously coloured bits reminding one of jigsaw puzzle pieces – having a black foul anchor (brown rope) and a white scroll bearing ‘SALKA’ in black letters as the more common elements.
Let me add that the various pieces have different forms and are coloured bright green, fuchsia, blue-green, dark blue (purplish on Vlootschouw), and yellow.
This is the company website, showing a white flag with the logo and throwing in an orange pennant for good measure:
One of many similar firms located at Zwijndrecht, Salka presents itself as your partner for waterborne transport of polluted earth, dredgings, and various materials for recycling.  In addition there is the sand and gravel business.
Besides two owned vessels Salka can count on some forty chartered barges of various kinds all of which are certified for the transport of above mentioned materials

Salka is said to mean ‘surprise’ in Latin (it does?) and yes, I am surprised!
Jan Mertens, 20 May 2006

Sanara, Rotterdam

Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995 [lgr95] Sanara B.V., Rotterdam - white flag, at hoist vertical outlined "SANARA", at bottom fly red blob, white "S".
Jarig Bakker, 15 Sep 2005

Sauer Bevrachtingen

Yesterday I saw in the Oude Houtmanhaven in Amsterdam a ship with the flag of Oranje Verzekeringen and an unknown flag: horizontal VWV, a white hoistdiagonal reaching half flaglength, charged with vertical aligned "SAUER" in black.
Jan Mertens assured me that it was "Sauer Bevrachtingen" (Chartering), Rotterdam BV., Zwijndrecht. No presence on the web (yet). The colors are the colors of
Rotterdam of course.
Jarig Bakker, 21 Jul 2006

Scaldis

Here is a house flag of a Dutch company in Belgian colours: Scaldis Lijn, owned by Hudig & Pieters, Rotterdam.  Found on a Kennedy, Hunter & Co.’s
agencies list, date unknown.
Flag divided horizontally red-yellow-red, bearing the word SCALDIS in large black letters on the middle stripe.
‘Scaldis’ is Latin for the Schelde river; when people mention the river they usually mean the Western branch of the river leading to Antwerp, Belgium.
(Incidentally, both river mouths are Dutch territory).
Jan Mertens, 4 Feb 2006

Scandutch

Jan Mertens reported this link with mainly Dutch houseflags. ScanDutch - white flag, red rotor with three blades.
Loughran's "A Survey of Mercantile Houseflags and funnels", 1979 lists this as Scanservice (1969-72); ScanDutch (1972- ); Consortium.
Jarig Bakker, 3 Mar 2005

Scheepvaart- en Steenkolen Maatschappij

N.V. Scheepvaart- en Steenkolen Maatschappij, Rotterdam (Shipping- and Coal Society).
Houseflag: seven equally wide horizontal stripes of blue and red, with in the center of the three central stripes a white diamond charged with S.S.M.
Image from Flagchart of houseflags of Dutch shipping companies, attached to the magazine "De Blauwe Wimpel", April 1956.
Jarig Bakker, 19 Oct 2003

Seatrade Groningen

Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995 [lgr95] Seatrade Groningen B.V., Groningen - orange flag, stylized white "S", black "G".
Jarig Bakker, 6 Jan 2006

Shipdock, Amsterdam

Jan Mertens reported this link with mainly Dutch houseflags. Shipdock, Amsterdam - Five horizontal stripes Blue - Orange - white - Orange - blue; on white at hoist "SHIPDOCK" in blue above "AMSTERDAM" in orange; at the hoist a drawing of a dock.
Jarig Bakker, 3 Mar 2005

Scheepswerf Slob

Scheepswerf Slob BV or “Slob Shipyard” is a venerable firm established at Papendrecht at the Lower Merwede River, across Dordrecht in fact. Here is the company website (English section available).
We immediately see the circular black-on-orange logo made up of the letters S-L-O-B and an orange flag with said logo flying on a ship, the ‘Sarah’ which is – we learn further on – a “Container Feeder and Dry Cargo Vessel”. This must have been a trial run, I suppose.

Quote from the introduction: “The shipyard is designing and building a great variety of vessels of different type destined for seagoing-and inland shipping, offshore and dredging industry. Moreover complete steel constructions and hulls (called casco’s, jm) for custom built motor yachts are being built.  The yard also carries out refits to all kind of vessels.”

Employing 78 people, the firm was founded in 1947 by Kommer Slob and sold to De Vries Scheepsbouw at Aalsmeer as there was no successor.

Additional information from the on-line Binnenvaartkrant, issue of 11 April 2006.
Jan Mertens, 22 Apr 2006

Slurink bunkering

A rather elegant flag is seen on this picture, behind Haniel V-W-N and to the left of the `H in cogwheel' flag.
The details are not very clear but luckily the flag has been identified as that of the Dutch bunkering firm, Slurink. The Company website shows the logo:
On a dark blue background is placed a sky-blue disk showing a white swan, swimming on a white wave towards the hoist, behind two blue bolders ("blue" bolders as on the flag they are of the same hue as the field).  In addition, the flag has a broad white stripe containing two smaller blue ones below the disk.

There are flags flying on the `Service 5'.
Link to photo of `Service 4', suggesting that the disk really rests on the stripes.

Slurink in fact consists of three firms i.e. Slurink-Zwaans BV (the second name surely the origin of the swan, making the symbol canting), Verbo BV and Service Centrum Lobith BV.

Service-oriented, Slurink offers mineral oils (mainly Shell) and various articles needed in shipping, mainly inland navigation; see the `Ons netwerk' ("our network") section for the location of the various stations some of which have boats as well.

Verbo is active in Zealand and also caters to fishery; Service Centrum Lobith has a Spar supermarket, a brand well-known in Spain, the Benelux and Germany.

Firm's history as told on the website (briefly): at the end of the 19th Century, Pouwel Slurink of Zwartsluis (*) was a shipchandler and so were his descendants, expanding into sailmaking and transportation of peat which was followed by mineral oils.  Acquisition of various oil merchant firms afer WWII. New bunkering station opened in 1974; after a failed attempt in 1980, merger talks resumed with Zwaans BV in 1985 which were concluded successfully.  Verbo bought in 1991, adding again to the number of stations.  Service Centrum added in 1996, bunkering station in Lobith (Spar supermarket) begun in 1999.

Still a family business, Slurink continues expanding and now represents between 20% and 30% of the Dutch bunkering market.

(*) Zwartsluis is near the eastern shore of what is now the IJsselmeer, formerly the Zuyderzee.
Jan Mertens, 21 May 2006

Yesterday I had a clear view of a small flag on a ship passing the Kostverlorenvaart in Amsterdam, which differed in some details from the image I sent previously;
- the brightblue disk is surrounded by a white ring, which in its turn is surrounded by a blue ring
- it rests on the lowest small stripe
- the stripes are blue, not black as I surmised
Jarig Bakker, 24 Jun 2006

Slurink burgee

An object found on marktplaats.nl - a burgee of "Zwaans Bunkering", but identified by Jan Mertens as belonging to Slurink Bunkering (incl. Zwaans).

It is a blue penant, with at hoist center the firm's logo (white swan on bright blue between two blue mooring poles; at half flagheight a white stripe with two blue stripes.
Jarig Bakker, 3 Jul 2006

Piet Smit Sleepdienst

Piet Smit Sleepdienst BV, a Dutch towage firm, is yet another one taken over by Smit Internationaal as explained in Jansen & Van Heck’s “Duwvaart”, p. 89.
Shown in b/w, its triangular house flag or pennant is described as being white having a red triangle in the upper left corner and a blue one in the lower left corner.
Of simple design and repeating the national colours, this pennant recalls a yachting burgee.
Some history found at this source (it does not show a flag but a funnel and moreover every vessel had its own initial):
Founded in 1877 by Piet Smit Jr as the ‘Slikkerveersche Sleepdienst', starting out with five tugboats and expanding by taking over others.  Later based in Rotterdam, the firm wisely renamed itself ‘NV Nederlandsche Stooomsleepdienst v/h Piet Smit Jr’ (i.e. Dutch Steam Towage Service Co. Ltd formerly Piet Smit Jr) in 1913.  Owned a hundred tugs in 1927.
The company took over Stoomsleepdienst ‘Maas’ in 1969 and changed its name into ‘Piet Smit Sleepdienst’ two years later. Coming upon hard times, the fleet now only counted 23 tugs and cooperation with ‘Nieuwe Rotterdamse Sleepdienst’ began but only to disappear into a greater whole, Smit Internationaal.
There was a related shipyard which went broke in 1988 - and that is the way the world goes.
Jan Mertens, 1 Mar 2006

Smits

Jan Mertens reported this link with mainly Dutch houseflags. Smits - yellow flag; in center a shield with red, white and blue horizontal bars; on red white "M", on blue white "S"..
Jarig Bakker, 3 Mar 2005

Solleveld & Co.

Solleveld van der Meer & van Hattum, Rotterdam - white flag, blue saltire; in center red shield, charged with the firm's initials in white (I think...).
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26]
Jarig Bakker, 28 January 2005

Spliethoff

Houseflag of Spliethoff's Bevrachtingskantoor BV (Amsterdam).
Quartered per saltire in orange, dark blue, white and red with a black "S" centered.
Jorge Candeias, 12 March 1999

Source: Company's website.
Dov Gutterman, 26 February 1999

Stoffers B.V.

Stoffers BV is a Dutch freighting, transhipment, and warehousing company active in inland navigation (dry bulk goods).   The exaxt name is BV Bevrachtingscombinatie (“freighting combination”) v/h (“formerly”) Stoffers Amsterdam.
The Company website shows an unhappily tweaked house flag.

After a nostalgic look at the old premises (click ‘Kantoor’ i.e. office), inspect the new headquarters (‘Verhuizing’ i.e. removal), still at Amsterdam. How to reach the new address is easily explained – just follow the instructions (in Dutch) and when you see the flag, real life size this time, you have arrived (‘Verhuizing’, bottom of page)!

On a red field is placed a white diamond, but this time the obligatory initial is replaced by a blue lozenge, higher than wide, and containing a white initial ‘S’.

The ‘Vloot’ or fleet section shows, or links to, several photos showing the house flag in action. Select for instance ‘Embrecht’, middle column, click through (we have now reached the Sleepschepen site), then click third upper image.

There is a penant as well, seen on a photo reached by clicking ‘Vloot’ and selecting ‘Portus 2’, third column, then third of single row. (see below).
Jan Mertens, 29 May 2006

Stoffers B.V. penant