Fyffes Line

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The former Carl Schurz as Changuinola

The traditional refrigerated shipping company Fyffes Line , founded in 1901 with a capital of 150,000 pounds, was owned by the fruit trader Elders & Fyffes. Fyffes Line ships successfully carried out pioneering work in the transport of bananas from Jamaica to Great Britain. The Fyffes Group is now the largest banana importer in Europe.

history

founding

After the establishment of the Elders & Fyffes company in 1902, three ships were bought by Furness, Withy & Co. and converted to transport green bananas from the West Indies to Great Britain. The three steamships Appomattox , Chickahominy and Greenbrier (fleet list no. 7-9), measured at around 3,500  GRT , were converted into reefer vessels in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In the same year, the fourth ship, the largely identical Oracabessa, measured at 3,000 GRT, joined the shipping fleet . In the fleet list, numbers 1 to 6 were occupied by ships from the previous Imperial Direct West India Mail Servic Company and relate to Port Morant , Port Maria , Port Royal , Port Antonio , Port Henderson and Port Kingston . In 1904 three new reefer ships were ordered, each measuring around 3,800 GRT and also equipped with passenger cabins.

Takeover by United Fruit Company

In 1910 50 percent of the company was taken over by the United Fruit Company (UFC), but it kept the original name. 1912 further shares were acquired by the United Fruit Company, which thus took over the majority.

Reefer ships

In 1914 the Fyffes fleet consisted of 16 ships, including the two refrigerated ships belonging to the Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft , the Carl Schurz in Changuinola (fleet list No. 27) and the Emil L. Boas in Motagua (fleet list No. 28) have been renamed. All ships were requisitioned by the British government during World War I and largely sunk in the course of the war.

The Cavina II, delivered to Elder & Fyffes in 1924, during World War II

After the war the company received a. a. the refrigerated ships from the shipping company F. Laeisz , the Pungo and Pionier as spoils of war. The Pungo was henceforth called Greenbrier II (Fleet List No. 34) and the Pionier was renamed Miami II (Fleet List No. 35). The shipping company quickly recovered from the aftermath of the war and put more new ships into service.

The Chirripo II (5,360 GRT), delivered in 1920 by Workman, Clark & Co., was sold to the Union Handels- und Schiffahrtsgesellschaft in 1935 and renamed Wesermünde , as was the Zent II , which was known as the Brake and the Reventzon (fleet list No. 34 ), which from then on ran under the German flag for the Union as Bremerhaven . This is where the influence of the parent company United Fruit Company on Elders & Fyffes and Union can be felt. The type ship Chirripo II had a total of 17 sister ships by 1929 from the shipyards Cammell, Laird & Company and Alex. Stephen & Co delivered to Elders & Fyffes. In September 1939 there were 56 ships that had sailed under the Fyffes flag for the previous 38 years. In the six years of World War II , 14 ships were lost at sea.

From November 1940 to December 30, 1945 the British government issued a ban on the import of bananas. After the Second World War, the Pelikan , renamed Pacuare (II) (Fleet List No. 71) , the Panther renamed Nicoya II (Fleet List No. 72) and the Panther II renamed in Reventazon III (Fleet List No. 73) became the Shipping company F. Laeisz taken over as spoils of war. The refrigerated ship Angelburg came from Harald Schuldt & Co. KG and was renamed Cent III (Fleet List No. 74).

Three turbo-electric reefer ships built in the early 1930s were taken over by United Fruit Co. in 1959. 1960 to 1963 six new reefer vessels, the Tenadores , Tetela II , Turrialba , Telde II , Tilapa II and Tucurinca II (fleet list No. 88-93) with steam turbine drive were delivered to Elders & Fyffes from the Bremer Vulkan . The two-stroke diesel-powered refrigerated ships Matina IV and their sister ships Morant , MotaguaII , Musa Manistee IV , MazatecII , Magdalena , and Manzanares II were delivered to the shipping company from 1969 to 1973 by the Japanese shipyard group Kawasaki Heavy Industries and are included in the fleet list among the Numbers 102 to 109. In 1974 the Darien (ex Polarstern from Deutsche Werft) and Davao (ex Polarlicht , 1964 from Blohm & Voss), both delivered to Hamburg Süd in 1964, were taken over. These ships received the fleet list no. 110 and 111. The Jarikaba and sister Nickerie from the Japanese shipyard Hayashikane SB & E (Fleet List Nos. 115 and 116), which were chartered in 1986, counted as the Coppename and Cottica (Fleet List Nos. 117 and 118) of the same Shipyard with similar dimensions to the shipping company's last refrigerated vessels.

Rear view of the Chiquita Germany of the country class
Fyffes reefer containers for bananas in Portsmouth

Reefer container ships

The two refrigerated container ships Barranca and Bayano II (fleet lists No. 112 and 113), which were delivered in 1972 by the Spanish shipyard Hijos de J. Barreras from Vigo, were very interesting from a technical point of view. They had a gantry crane, a total of 186 refrigerated containers and were among the few container ships on which all of the slots for refrigerated container operation were set up. They were designed for the service Puerto Cortes to Galveston, could transport a total of 80,000 banana boxes and ran 16  knots .

today

The decisive factor is that the two aforementioned ships were among the pioneers of transporting bananas in containers. The slow transition took place u. a. with the country reefer ships of the Great White Fleet , which can load many reefer containers on deck. This step was largely completed in 2016, because today, with a few exceptions, Fyffes bananas are mainly transported in refrigerated containers on container ships. The advantage is very flexible contracts with container shipping companies that do not require long-term capital commitment in refrigerated vessels. Ships from other shipping companies such as B. Maersk , MSC , Hamburg Süd , Crowley and Dole .

Chiquita canceled a planned merger with Fyffes in 2014 when the Brazilian juice manufacturer Cutrale took over Chiquita for $ 1.3 billion including debt.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://e.jimdo.com/app/sf0266bbfef94849e/pfc186371e6d949a0/?cmsEdit=1
  2. ↑ Duncan Haws: Elders & Fyffes and Geest. 1996, p. 20.
  3. ↑ Duncan Haws: Elders & Fyffes and Geest. 1996, p. 15.
  4. ↑ Duncan Haws: Elders & Fyffes and Geest. 1996, p. 6.
  5. ↑ K.-H. High-rise: Deutsche Kühlschiffahrt (1902–1995). P. 20.
  6. ↑ K.-H. High-rise: Deutsche Kühlschiffahrt (1902–1995). P. 22.
  7. ^ Arnold Kludas, Ralf Witthohn: The German refrigerated ships. Koehler Herford 1981, p. 110.
  8. ↑ K.-H. High-rise: Deutsche Kühlschiffahrt (1902–1995). P. 28.
  9. ↑ K.-H. High-rise: Deutsche Kühlschiffahrt (1902–1995). P. 24.
  10. ↑ K.-H. High-rise: Deutsche Kühlschiffahrt (1902–1995). P. 43.
  11. ^ Arnold Kludas, Ralf Witthohn: The German refrigerated ships. Koehler Herford 1981, p. 91.
  12. ↑ K.-H. High-rise: Deutsche Kühlschiffahrt (1902–1995). P. 40.
  13. ↑ Duncan Haws: Elders & Fyffes and Geest. 1996, p. 52.