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House Flags of Singaporean Shipping Companies

Austasia Line Pte Ltd.
Ben Line Ltd.
Bulan Transportation
Guan Guan Shipping (Pte), Ltd.
Kapal Management (PTE). Ltd.
Lian Soon Shipping & Trading Co. (Dolly Seah)
Mineral Shipping Pte., Ltd.
Neptune Orient Lines Ltd.
Pacific International Lines Ltd.
Samudera Group
SEMCO Salvage Pte Ltd.
Singapore Salvage Engineers Pte Ltd.
Straits Steamship
Tai Chong Cheang Steamship Co. Pte Ltd.
Thong Soon Shipping (Pte.), Ltd.

See also:

Austasia Line Pte Ltd.

image by Ivan Sache, 31 August 2002

White swallow-tailed flag with a black A inscribed in a black ring in the middle of the flag. Source: Joseph Nüsse's website.
Ivan Sache, 31 August 2002

Ben Line

image by Jorge Candeias, 27 March 2001

Just as Ben Line Agencies (Hong Kong). If I remember correctly, these where apparently two quite unrelated shipping lines, at least in what their websites was concerned, although the connection is pretty obvious.
Jorge Candeias, 27 March 2001

Bulan Transportation

image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 26 September 2008

Another Van Nievelt, Goudriaan (NL)-related house flag is that of ‘Bulan Transportation’ at Singapore, operating under the name “White Star Line”: a reduced version of the Dutch parent company’s – a white five-pointed star on a blue field. Found in Haalmeijer & Scholten: ‘Van Nievelt, Goudriaan & Co’s Stoomvaart Maatschappij (Nigoco)’, book, 1995.

We have encountered SHV or ‘Steenkolen Handelsvereeniging’ before, the company owning Van Nievelt, Goudriaan which through its subsidiary ‘Bulan Investments’ (Jersey) founded ‘Bulan Transportation’ in 1972. As ‘White Star Line’ – a name adopted in 1973 - freight was shipped between Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australasia and (later) Thailand. Three ships under Nigoco officers were operated, flying the Singapore flag.

Unfortunately, the oil crisis struck in 1973 which in that part of the world caused a shift towards the bigger Japanese ships. As the Bulan vessels were rather old, requiring frequent repairs and offering limited access to the hold, the company came rapidly under pressure and was wound up. The last ship was sold in 1977.

See also: http://www.sealion-online.com/history.htm
Jan Mertens, 26 September 2008

Guan Guan Shipping (Pte), Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 28 January 2006

Guan Guan Shipping (Pte), Ltd., Singapore - white flag bordered red; red outlined diamond, charged with red "G.G.".
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies (Loughran, 1995)
Jarig Bakker, 28 January 2006

Kapal Management (PTE). Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 4 November 2005

Kapal Management (PTE). Ltd., Singapore - red flag, charged with rounded white swallowtail.
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies (Loughran, 1995)
Jarig Bakker, 4 November 2005

Lian Soon Shipping & Trading Co. (Dolly Seah)

image by Jarig Bakker, 4 November 2005

Lian Soon Shipping & Trading Co. (Dolly Seah), Singapore - red flag; in center white diamond, charged with blue "S"; at hoist and fly blue triangles.
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies (Loughran, 1995)
Jarig Bakker, 4 November 2005

Mineral Shipping Pte., Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 28 January 2006

Mineral Shipping Pte., Ltd., Singapore - flag chequy of Bavarian lozenges; in center white diamond outlined blue, blue "M".
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies (Loughran, 1995)
Jarig Bakker, 28 January 2006

Neptune Orient Lines Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 28 January 2006

Neptune Orient Lines Ltd., Singapore - white flag, three wavy horizontal lines, green rain out of the fly.
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies (Loughran, 1995)
Jarig Bakker, 28 January 2006

Pacific International Lines Ltd.

image by Ivan Sache, 31 August 2002

Flag horizontally divided red-white-red (1:2:1) with PIL in blue in the white stripe. Source: Joseph Nüsse's website.
Ivan Sache, 31 August 2002

images by Ian MacDonald, 31 July 2006

Pacific International Lines (Pte) Ltd. as it was renamed 3.6.1971 having been formed in 1967, has used the same flag format for some of its subsidiaries/joint ventures by changing the lettering. Thus Advance Container Line of Singapore has "ACL", Pacific Eagle Lines Pte Ltd. of Singapore "PEL". See also P.T. Pilindo Megah Selatan "PMS" of Indonesia.
Neale Rosanoski, 24 January 2006

Samudera Group

[P.T. Perusahaan Pelayaran Samudera Indonesia Line]

by Jarig Bakker, 31 January 2006

Company founded in 1993, mainly involved in container shipping.
Flag: five horizontal stripes red-white-red-white-red with black central letter S covering the middle three stripes. As can be seen on the home page, the black S may partly overlap the top and bottom stripe when painted on a funnel. But a funnel may show a painting of the flag as well.
Jan Mertens, 5 April 2005

Company website: Samudera Indonesia Group

SEMCO Salvage Pte Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 4 November 2005

SEMCO Salvage Pte Ltd., Singapore - black-yellow-black flag; on yellow "SO" in white; in center red-yellow-red shield bordered white; on yellow "EMC" in white.
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies (Loughran, 1995)
Jarig Bakker, 4 November 2005

Singapore Salvage Engineers Pte Ltd.

images by Eugene Ipavec, 18 December 2009

'Singapore Salvage Engineers Pte Ltd' or SSE, in the words of the company website, “provides ship surveys, marine salvage and marine engineering consultancy services to the maritime industry. The company is based in Singapore and was established in 1968 by Mr Francis Danakody, a diver and salvage master.” See: http://www.singaporesalvage.com/.

The photos on this page present, in a nutshell, SSE's various activities: http://www.singaporesalvage.com/operations, each picture leading to a number of others. Vessels of many kinds, with specifications, may be seen on the ‘Fleet’ page – sea-borne cranes, barges, pontoons, tugs, etc.: http://www.singaporesalvage.com/fleet_list.

Shown as a drawing on the website’s header, the house flag is red bearing a white saltire with red initials “SSE” in the descending arm. Interestingly, not only do flag images (i.e. painted on equipment) with black initials and supplementary dots occur but they exist in the cloth as well. This could be a simple variant or might be related to a subsidiary company such as SSE Offshore or SSE Marine.
Jan Mertens, 11 December 2009

Straits Steamship

image by Jarig Bakker, 6 July 2001

The old Straits Steamship Company operated out of Singapore. The Company was associated with the Blue Funnel Line (Alfred Holt & Co.) Liverpool. It was operating for around 100 yrs up to the late 1950's when it was bought out by Kepal.
John Bax, 6 July 2001

Flag is blue ground; white cross on red diamond, according to Lloyd's Calendar (1957). Grote Elsevier Atlas (1951) has an image for Straits Lines (Gr. Br.), which I have used to make this image. The funnel in Elsevier's has a thin white line between the black and blue (as on the Blue Funnel funnel).
Jarig Bakker, 6 July 2001

Talbot-Booth (c1934) shows a large diamond with the corners almost touching the edges of the flag, but Stewart (1953), revised by Styring (1963), shows a small diamond with the corners well back from the edges of the flag.
David Prothero, 7 July 2001

Straits Steamship Co. Ltd. is a Singapore company formed in 1890. It was shifted briefly to England after the Japanese invasion in WW2 where it was re registered as the Singapore Straits Steamship Co. Ltd, returning to Singapore in 1945 and reverting to its original name. Alfred Holt & Co. had acquired an interest in 1926 which subsequently was held by Ocean Trading & Transport plc who sold their 58% interest in 6/1983 to Keppel Shipyard. In 1993 the company changed its name to Steamers Maritime Holdings Ltd. and it still operates under the control of the Keppel Corporation Ltd. Most sources show the flag diamond as being either completely throughout or nearly so with a company ad in the Singapore Times in 3/1990 supporting the former. I do not know whether the flag was retained on the last name change. The source showing the funnel having a narrow white line dividing the blue from the black would appear to be incorrect. All regular sources show a white funnel with a black top separated by a very broad blue band. It sounds like the authors may have shown the Blue Funnel flag (blue with a black top) with the white line occurring because of the colouring alignments not being quite right.
Neale Rosanoski, 24 May 2004

Variant flag

image by Jarig Bakker, 31 August 2005

From the link provided by Barbara Tomlinson of The National Maritime Museum: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/

"The house flag of the Straits Steamship Co. Ltd, Singapore. A rectangular blue flag with a red diamond bearing a white cross. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. A rope is attached."
Jarig Bakker, 31 August 2005

Tai Chong Cheang Steamship Co. Pte Ltd.

image by Ivan Sache, 31 August 2002

Flag horizontally divided red-white with a countercoloured T. Source: Joseph Nüsse's website.
The same flag, with a V instead of the T, is/was used by the Valles Steamship Co. Lt. (Hong Kong). Both companies are/were most probably related.
Ivan Sache, 31 August 2002

Thong Soon Shipping (Pte.), Ltd.

image by Jarig Bakker, 4 November 2005

Thong Soon Shipping (Pte.), Ltd., Singapore - yellow flag, white diamond bordered red, red "TS".
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies (Loughran, 1995)
Jarig Bakker, 4 November 2005