Société Algérienne de navigation Charles Schiaffino & Cie.

The Société Algérienne de Navigation Charles Schiaffino & Cie. (sometimes also: Société Algérienne de Navigation pour l'Afrique du Nord Charles Schiaffino & Cie. or simply Charles Schiaffino & Cie. etc.) was the most important shipping company in Algeria at the time . It was founded by Charles Schiaffino († 1920) and had its offices temporarily at 86 rue St-Lazaire in Paris and on Quai Nord in Algiers .

history

The shipping company was founded under the name Société Schiaffino Frères in 1874. In 1892 it teamed up with another company and was now called Compagnie Franseski, Schiaffino et Cie. After the shipowner Achaque was added in 1894, whose daughter Rose married Charles Schiaffino, the name was changed again and the shipping company was called Fanseski, Schiaffino, Achaque & Cie until 1897 . Thereafter it was called Société de Navigation Cotière Algérienne Schiaffino & Nyer-Sitges until 1908 , when it became Charles Schiaffino, A. Jouvet & Cie. rename it. From 1919 it was called Laurent Schiaffino & Cie. On a poster from 1950 it is again referred to as Sociéte Algérienne de Navigation Charles Schiaffino & Cie. designated; also on a stock from 1969.

The ships of the shipping company , mostly named after Charles Schiaffino's family members and painted in black, red and white and marked with a white S on the chimney, initially mainly transported wine from Algeria to Rouen . For this purpose, they were equipped with tanks below deck, and fruit, vegetables and citrus fruits were also loaded. The vehicles were also used as passenger ships; they were mainly used as a means of transport for wealthy tourists and colonial officials. In addition to the Rouen-Algeria connection, the France- Morocco route was soon opened . The decline in the colonial economy also resulted in a drop in orders for the Schiaffinos shipping company.

19 of the shipping company's 20 ships at that time fell victim to the Second World War .

In the 1970s, Schiaffino ships were used, among other things, to transport equipment for the nuclear tests on the Mururoa Atoll; on the way back they each had copra loaded.

Hangar 13 in Rouen

Until 1977 the shipping company still used Hangar M or, after the renaming in 1966, Hangar 13 in the port of Rouen. The traffic with the former colonies, z. Some of the transactions were processed from there, but continued to decline, and the trips to Morocco were finally stopped entirely. The Musée maritime, fluvial et portuaire de Rouen is now located at this former location of the shipping company .

In 1978 Laurent Schiaffino, the son of Charles Schiaffino, died. He had lost his son Louis-Charles in 1949. His successor, Henri de Clermont-Tonnerre, sold the last ship on the Algeria line, the Laurent Schiaffino , in 1979 . The traffic across the English Channel , which had started in the 1970s, continued until 1990. Then they gave way to the Sally Line, which owned the port of Ramsgate and thus the port of destination for Schiaffino ships in Great Britain.