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Rigel Shipping (German Shipping Company)

Rigel Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG, Rigel Shipping Canada

image by Eugene Ipavec, 2 Dec 2007

Rigel Shipping
Rigel Canada

See also:

Rigel Shipping

‘Rigel Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG’ or Rigel Shipping Co. Ltd: Homepage of the German, Leer and Bremen based mother firm (in English): Founded in 1990, Rigel is a tanker operator transporting oil and chemicals. Interestingly, “each vessel is a German limited partnership (Kommandit Gesellschaft). RIGEL SCHIFFAHRTS GMBH & CO. KG controls the individual limited partnerships and manages the fleet” (quote from the ‘Company / Rigel facts’ section). The state-of-the-art tankers are ice strengthened as they have been conceived for trading in the Arctic waters of Russia and Canada.
Flag: Dark blue bearing a large red disk containing a white six-pointed star with an initial ‘R’ in it which is black, italic, and has no serifs.
Jan Mertens, 26 Nov 2007

The German page under Rigel Shipping shows a flag based on images appearing on the German website which show a blue flag bearing the logo of a red circle charged wholly with a white 6 pointed star which in turn bears a black "R" which is slightly angled towards the fly.

The Canadian page under Rigel Shipping Canada Inc. shows diagonal quarters of black red and blue with the logo overall which is taken from a photo of an actual flag appearing on the Canadian website.

The quartered flag is shown by Josef Nüsse in connection with the German company for which there is no argument – it is the parent company formed in 1990 with the Canadian company being a subsidiary formed in 1993. Its website describes it as a joint venture but it is the first joint venture that I have come across that only mentions one party and I suspect that there is probably only a nominal local shareholding to enable it to be registered in Canada.

Regardless of this it is an established fact, taken from several photographs of sundry ships belonging [registering them under one ship companies does not change who the ultimate owner is] to both parent and subsidiary companies, that they all fly the same flag [the quartered version] and all have the same funnel markings [I have found one exception where there is a small variation in the logo appearing only on a white band whereas the others all have the logo overlapping the band onto the funnel base but the principle remains unchanged].

What the purpose of the plain blue field flag shown on the German website is for is a mystery but it is certainly not connected with the ships which incidentally are only distinguished between the two nationalities by the Germans using a suffix of "stern" and registering mainly in the I.O.M. whilst the Canadians have a second name of "Star" and register in Canada.
Neale Rosanoski, 22 Feb 2008

Rigel Canada

image by Jarig Bakker, 29 Feb 2008
Small: Rigel Shipping Canada
Shediac, New Brunswick
(See also Rigel Shipping Canada)

The company website states that this Canadian domiciled and registered firm is a joint venture with Rigel Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG of Bremen, Germany, the aim being to provide tanker shipping to Canadian petroleum and related firms.

Founded in 1993, the Canadian Rigel operates three double-hulled tankers (ice-strengthened). Interestingly, in the beginning of this year the company contemplated opening a ferry route between New Brunswick and Labrador but the plan fell through.

Found on the net as a drawing for the house flag (for a photo present on the company site: click top menu ‘Company’ then ‘News’). Quarterly divided: left and right triangles red, upper triangle black, lower triangle blue; a white black-rimmed disk in the centre bearing a white black-rimmed six-pointed star enclosing a black initial ‘R’.

The ‘R’ is really italic as seen on the funnel
Jan Mertens, 20 Nov 2006