Den norske Amerikalinje

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Den norske Amerikalinje
legal form
founding 1910
resolution 1995
Reason for dissolution In the shipping company Wilh. Wilhelmsen incorporated
Seat Oslo , Norway
Branch Shipping company

The Den norske Amerikalinje (German Norwegian America Line ) was a Norwegian shipping company based in Oslo , which existed from 1910 to 1995 and operated several liner and cargo ships. In the 1960s, the shipping company switched to cruises , which it sold from 1980 in cooperation with the British Cunard Line . In 1995, after 85 years, Den norske Amerikalinje became part of the Wilh shipping company . Wilhelmsen incorporated and thus dissolved as an independent company.

history

Prewar years

The Kristianiafjord , the shipping company's first ship

The Den norske Amerikalinje was founded in 1910 in Oslo, to bring Norwegian emigrants to America. The shipping company's first ship began operating in June 1913 as the Kristianiafjord and could carry up to 1,200 passengers, most of them in third class. In the same year this ship was supplemented by the identical Bergensfjord on the route to New York . In addition to the passenger service, the Den norske Amerikalinje also operated several cargo ships.

In June 1917, the Kristianiafjord ran aground off Cape Race and was destroyed by a storm almost two weeks later. As a replacement for the ship, the Stavangerfjord began service in 1918 .

After the stock market crash in 1929, the numbers of Den norske Amerikalinje fell sharply, but later recovered. In the 1930s, in addition to regular services, the company also took occasional cruises for wealthy passengers with the Oslofjord . Long-time director and shipowner Gustav Henriksen died on October 8, 1939 at the age of 76. He had headed the shipping company since it was founded in 1910.

Second World War

During the Second World War , the ships of the Den norske Amerikalinje were converted into troop transports. On December 1, 1940, the Oslofjord ran into a sea mine off Tynemouth and was listed. The ship could be towed to the coast, but sank there on the night of January 21-22, 1941 after it broke up. The Oslofjord was the only passenger ship that the shipping company lost in the war.

Post war years and focus on cruises

The Sagafjord , the shipping company's last liner passenger ship
The Vistafjord , the shipping company's last new building

The first new passenger ship on Den norske Amerikalinje after the war was the Oslofjord , which was named after the liner that sank in 1941 . In 1956 the even larger Bergensfjord followed . In the same year, the shipping company set its own record with 25,462 passengers carried.

In the 1960s, passenger numbers fell due to greater competition from jet planes. The Sagafjord was put into service in 1965 as the last new building for regular service. The shipping company then switched to cruises, which included the Caribbean . Occasionally, however, transatlantic trips continued to be offered. 1973 followed with the Vistafjord, the only new building for cruises.

After the operation of the Sagafjord and the Vistafjord became uneconomical for Den norske Amerikalinje in the late 1970s , the shipping company entered into a joint venture with the British Cunard Line in 1980 . The following years both ships were operated jointly by Cunard and Den norske Amerikalinje . In 1984 the ships were completely owned by Cunard Line, which meant that Den norske Amerikalinje no longer owned a ship. The cargo ship operation had already been stopped in 1979. The shipping company then existed on paper for a few years before moving to Wilh in 1995. Wilhelmsen shipping company was incorporated and thus dissolved.

Both the Sagafjord and the Vistafjord went to the cruise operator Saga Cruises later in their service life . The Sagafjord remained in service until 2009 as Saga Rose and was scrapped in China in 2011 . The Vistafjord remained in service until 2014 under the name Saga Ruby . A subsequently planned use as a hotel ship under the name Oasia was not realized. In March 2017, the ship went to a demolition yard in Indian Alang , where she was stranded on 12 April. There the last existing ship of the Den norske Amerikalinje is scrapped.

Passenger ships

year Surname Tonnage
(in GRT)		 shipyard Status / fate
1913 Kristianiafjord 10,699 Cammell, Laird & Company , Birkenhead 1917. Cape Race havariert
1913 Bergensfjord 10,699 Cammell, Laird & Company, Birkenhead Sold in 1946, scrapped in La Spezia in 1959
1918 Stavangerfjord 12,997 Cammell, Laird & Company, Birkenhead Scrapped in Hong Kong in 1964
1938 Oslofjord 18,673 AG Weser , Bremen Sunk off Tynemouth in 1941 after being hit by mines
1949 Oslofjord 16,844 Netherlands Shipbuilding Company, Amsterdam Sold in 1969, sunk in 1970 after a fire off Tenerife
1956 Bergensfjord 18,789 Swan Hunter , Wallsend Sold in 1971, sunk in 1980 after a fire in front of Perama
1965 Sagafjord 24,528 Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée , La Seyne-sur-Mer Sold in 1983, scrapped in Jiangyin (China) in 2011
1973 Vistafjord 24,492 Swan Hunter, Wallsend Sold in 1984, scrapped in Alang (India) in 2017

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Shawn Dake: Former VISTAFJORD Sailing Into History? March 19, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017 .