Swiss ocean shipping

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Flag of the sea (see also flag and coat of arms of Switzerland )
Flag at sea

The fleets that operate on the oceans under the flag of the landlocked state of Switzerland are referred to as Swiss ocean shipping . The only port of registration for Swiss ocean-going vessels is Basel , which is therefore the home port for all Swiss ocean-going vessels .

history

In May 1850 the Swiss James Funk, who had achieved the degree of captain in the USA , asked the Federal Council for permission to allow his Wilhelm Tell , built in the USA, to sail under the Swiss cross . In November of the same year, the New York company Whitlock received permission to fly the Swiss flag on its Helvetia .

Federal Councilor Jakob Dubs , who was Federal President in 1864, had the first draft of a Swiss shipping law drawn up. The half-hearted efforts failed because of the objection of the seafaring nations that Switzerland, as a landlocked country and lacking a navy, is not in a position to protect its own merchant fleet and to exercise sufficient supervision. In 1880, around 30 sailing and steam ships owned by the emigrant agent and Swiss consul in Antwerp , Daniel Steinmann, sailed between Europe and America. The ships of his shipping company White Cross Line were sailing under the Belgian flag, but had also hoisted the Swiss cross .

During the First World War , the lack of its own merchant ships was clearly noticeable. The German navy waged an unrestricted submarine war against all ships calling at an Allied port. As a result, the tonnage made available to Switzerland decreased considerably. As a result, the first type of Swiss merchant fleet emerged. The ships operated under the flags of the neutral states of Belgium and the USA, but clearly visible Swiss flags were hoisted on the foremast and the word “Switzerland” was painted on both sides in huge white letters. Thanks to the escorts from the Swiss Embassy in Washington, DC , these ships were guaranteed free passage through the sea areas controlled by Germany.

Since 1919 the federal government has been responsible for legislation on shipping, and it has been incorporated into Article 24 of the Federal Constitution (since 1999: Article 87).

In 1921, a declaration by the Transport Conference of the League of Nations in Barcelona stated that the flags of seagoing ships of the landlocked states are recognized, provided that these ships are registered in a single specific place, which is the port of registry.

Arrival of the Calanda in Lisbon, May 5, 1941

After the outbreak of the Second World War , Switzerland found itself again in a supply-economic emergency and was forced to use ships under its own flag on the world's oceans. Although a request submitted in 1939 by the Schweizerische Reederei AG for flying the Swiss flag was rejected by the Federal Council on May 7, 1940, a federal decree of April 9, 1941 on maritime shipping under the Swiss flag created the first legal basis. The previously Panamanian Calanda was the first ship to be officially brought under the Swiss flag on April 19, 1941 with its home port of Basel.

After the flag decision in April 1941, the Swiss merchant fleet was built up quickly: From January 1941 to April 1942, the War Transport Office (KTA) acquired four ships at very high prices due to the war. The first was the steamer Armando registered in Panama , which was renamed St. Gotthard on May 6, 1941 and registered as the third Swiss ship. Private shipowners bought six ships. By 1945 fourteen ships sailed under the Swiss flag and brought raw materials, fodder, grain and sugar to ward off hunger and hardship. Despite the Swiss flag, ships fell victim to air raids.

The second registered ship, the Maloja , was attacked and sunk by ten British fighter planes on September 7, 1943 about 30  nautical miles off Corsica near Cap Revellata . Other ships sunk during the war are the Chasseral (sunk by British fighter planes in April 1944), the Albula (sank in the port of Marseille in June 1944 when the Germans blew up the quays) and the Generoso (arrived in Marseille on September 19, 1944 a left mine).

The St. Cergue , registered as the fifth ship, survived several German air raids in the port of Rotterdam in 1940 almost unscathed. The "lucky ship" under Captain Fritz Gerber was able to save the St. Cergue from 1942 to 1943 a total of over 300 survivors from torpedoed ships and to tow the burning Portuguese steamer Mello into the port of Pernambuco .

Based on the experiences made, it was decided after the end of the war to keep the merchant fleet. In 1952, Gottlieb Duttweiler initiated the construction of the cargo ships Adele and Sun-Amelia . The Emergency Law of 1941 was replaced by a Maritime Law in 1953, and the federal government sold its four ships to private Swiss owners and shipping companies.

On February 28, 1964, the Carona was rammed by a Liberty freighter in the fog off the island of Terschelling and sank.

As of mid-2015, the Federal Council initiated measures to improve the shipping companies' profitability and avert damage to the federal government's guarantee obligations due to the shipping crisis. At the end of 2016, the Federal Council announced that the Swiss ocean-going fleet had overcapacity and that national supplies would also be guaranteed in the event of a crisis. A new taxation method ( tonnage tax ) could enable the federal government to withdraw from the risky guarantee system for ocean-going ships and should save Switzerland as a shipping nation.

The tanker San Padre Pio of the ABC Maritime AG and four officers have been detained in the Bay of Biafra since January 2018 . In March 2019 it became known that Switzerland wanted to take Nigeria to an international maritime court for this , as the diplomatic path to release had so far been unsuccessful.

Maritime Law

The Federal Law on Maritime Shipping under the Swiss Flag (Maritime Law of 23 September 1953) contains strict flag law provisions , which guarantee that only ships registered in Switzerland and flying the neutral Swiss flag which exclusively protect Swiss interests and avoid the possibility of circumvention are excluded. This is the only way to protect these neutral ships from being confiscated by the warring parties in the event of a conflict.

In addition, the Maritime Ordinance of November 20, 1956 applies.

Deep sea fleet

The Safmarine Andisa in a German dock

In 2016, six shipping companies operated a total of 49 ships with 1,031,713 GT ( gross tonnage ) under the Swiss flag. The Swiss merchant fleet has a total carrying capacity of 1.7 million tons, which corresponds to around 1 per thousand of the world tonnage. This puts the Swiss merchant fleet around 70th in the world merchant fleet. Divided by type of ship: 30 bulk carriers , 12 multi-purpose carriers , 7 tankers . These ships are on average six years old.

In November 2017, the Swiss fleet comprised 36 merchant ships with a loading capacity of around 1.5 million tons (DWT). It consists of 29 bulk carriers, 4 multi-purpose carriers, 3 asphalt and product tankers. The fleet is operated by six shipping companies.

As of October 8, 2019, the Swiss fleet still comprises 27 ships, which are operated by four shipping companies.

Shipping companies

  • ABC Maritime AG (3 ships)
  • Massoel Ltd. (8 ships)
  • Reederei Zürich AG (6 ships)
  • Suisse-Atlantique Société de Navigation Maritime SA (10 ships)
  • Swiss Chem Schifffahrts AG (in liquidation)

education

Training in Switzerland is not possible in order to go to sea as a deck officer / captain or technical officer . The Swiss often choose nautical schools in Great Britain, Italy or Germany as training locations. In 2007, three to four Swiss were in training to become deck officers.

communication

For communication with seagoing vessels, Switzerland had its own coastal radio station until March 2016 : Bernradio (callsign HEB). Since the beginning of 2004, Bernradio has been operated by RUAG Aerospace . In 2009, Swisscom took over the coastal radio station.

Bernradio was converted for radio data transmission under Swisscom in cooperation with Kiel Radio . Radiotelex or radiotelex have not been offered since then, only digital data links based on Pactor modulation. Swisscom Broadcast has been operating Bernradio since January 1, 2009 . Swisscom operated the station commercially again and was able to fall back on a network of 12 additional radio stations, all of which were equipped by the partner Kiel Radio and had come together under the umbrella of the Global Link Network . In March 2016, operations were suspended until further notice.

Yachts under the Swiss flag

Yachts may also fly the Swiss flag at sea upon request. The corresponding regulations can be found in the Ordinance on Swiss Yachts at Sea (SR 747.321.7). Only sports and pleasure boats belonging to Swiss citizens or a Swiss association can be entered in the yacht register, which is also kept in Basel. Yachts flying the Swiss flag must be seaworthy and, if necessary, provide evidence of this - the equipment regulations are comparatively strict. It is not allowed to transport people or things for a fee with Swiss yachts, so they are not allowed to be chartered or offer berth charter .

literature

Web links

Commons : Swiss Ocean Shipping  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Federal Law on Maritime Shipping under the Swiss Flag
  2. ↑ St. Cergue Ship History ( Memento of the original from November 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.test.swiss-ships.ch
  3. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger of April 3, 2017: End times sentiment among Swiss shipping companies. The existence of the deep-sea fleet is threatened and ships are being rejected. For example General Guisan.
  4. ↑ NZZ of April 2, 2017: The Swiss fleet is in trouble
  5. ↑ NZZ of May 18, 2017: Emergency sales of Swiss ocean-going ships cost the federal government millions
  6. ↑ Luzerner Zeitung of June 26, 2017: After losing millions. Federal government sells first ship in the ocean-going fleet
  7. ↑ The Federal Government of July 21, 2017: Bankrupt ships now operate under a foreign flag
  8. ↑ Aargauer Zeitung of September 18, 2017: Guarantees. The federal government cannot immediately get out of ocean shipping
  9. ↑ Denis von Burg: Bern is suing Nigeria. In: tagesanzeiger.ch . March 30, 2019, accessed March 31, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Seagoing vessels flying the Swiss flag (as of April 27, 2016). (PDF, 34.1 kB) Swiss Maritime Shipping Office, accessed on October 17, 2016 (multilingual :, French, German).
  11. ↑ Fleet list November 1, 2017
  12. ↑ Swiss Maritime Administration, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Swiss Confederation: Seagoing ships flying the Swiss flag. October 8, 2019, accessed November 25, 2019 .
  13. ^ DV Bern AG: Swiss Chem Schifffahrts AG in liquidation. Retrieved November 25, 2019 .