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House Flags of Hong Kong Shipping Companies 5

Last modified: 2024-03-09 by ian macdonald
Keywords: hong kong | maritime shipping |
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Shekou Container Line Ltd.

[houseflag of Shekou Container Line, Ltd.] image by Jorge Candeias,


Shun Cheong Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.

[houseflag of Shun Cheong Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.] image by Miles Li, 4 August 2023

Shun Cheong Steam Navigation Company was established by Hui Oi Chow (1881-1966), in the French Leased Territory of Kouang-Tchéou-Wan (present-day Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, China), during the 1930s. Later it was incorporated as Shun Cheong Steam Navigation Company, Limited in Hong Kong on 27 September 1952. Its founder's third, youngest and last surviving son, Hui Sai Fun (1921-2018), sold off its entire fleet in 1987. The company technically still exists today, although its sister companies, which have substantial real estate portfolios, are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Hui business dynasty.
Miles Li, 4 August 2023


Sinotrans Shipping

Sinotrans Group was founded in China in 1950. Sinotrans Shipping was established in Hong Kong in January 2003 as a subsidiary of Sinotrans Group.
Sinotrans Group operates 34 vessels, including 26 dry bulkers.
A photography of the vessel "Great Ambition", shown on the front page of the company website, shows the company house flag as blue with the company emblem in white.
The company emblem shows a stylized representation of the Earth, with in the middle a ribbon bearing the company name.
Source: Sinotrans Shipping website
Ivan Sache,
8 March 2008


Star Ferry Co., Ltd.

[Star Ferry Company] image by Miles Li, 18 February 2024
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World [lgr95]

Blue flag, white circle containing a white 5-pointed star, two horizontal stripes and a red top.
Jarig Bakker, 25 January 2006

Former flag

[Star Ferry Company] image by Miles Li, 18 February 2024

Flag of Star Ferry, circa 1950s.


Swire Group

[Corporate flag of the Swire Group] image by Miles Li, 26 May 2016

It is diagonally divided in quarters (per-saltire) white on top and bottom and red on either side with a blue vertical stripe down the middle. With the stripe it begins to look a little like a union jack.
Nathan Augustine, 18 April 1996
The Swire Group is a diversified company in Hong Kong, involved in manufacturing, real estate and shipping.

John Swire & Sons Ltd. date from 1875 and the colours were originally associated with The China Navigation Co. Ltd. which was formed in 1872. The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce Chart of 1885 shows the flag in the name of Swire and thereafter sources ascribe it to China Navigation with Swires as managers. At some point Swires have taken over China Navigation and it now operates as one of their subsidiaries with the flag being common to the group. Both companies originated in the U.K. with Swire still being based there, the group being international, and China Navigation are still located in Hong Kong.
Neale Rosanoski, 23 January 2003

When the China Navigation Company was founded in 1872, its main competitor was the American-owned Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, whose house flag was per saltire, white at the chief and the base, blue at the hoist and the fly. The house flag of the China Navigation Company, as originally designed by John Samuel Swire, was to be deliberately similar to that of its main competitor, except substituting blue with red. Before it was adopted however, John Samuel Swire had a change of mind, and added a blue vertical stripe to his design, thus giving birth to the house flag of the China Navigation Company and of the Swire Group.
https://www.swire.com/ourjourney/mobile/en/story/1872.php
Miles Li, 17 July 2023


Toho Shipping Co.

[Toho Shipping Co.] image by Jan Mertens, 13 April 2011

One day I came across this Shipspotting photo showing ‘Toko HK’, a container ship bearing on the funnel a green rectangle sporting a white serifed ‘T’: http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=426323 while a genuine flag drawing for "Toho Line" appears on a container (clickable photo).
The firm no longer exists, having merged with Waiwell Shipping Co. into Sinotrans (HK) Shipping Ltd, Hong Kong in 2003. Obverse the symbolic merger of logos - one of them the green house flag - on this page: http://www.sinotrans-logistics.com/aboutus.asp
Well, I could have known - Josef Nüsse renewed website shows just this flag in table format, about half way down on this page, next to Sinotrans: http://www.flagpole.de/flaggen/welt/asien-ii/
No idea when Toho was founded, photos on the ‘net show general bulk and container ships mainly of the eighties. Still, a more blocky initial ‘T’ could once have been used if we may go by the funnel:
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=212423
Jan Mertens, 13 April 2011


Top Nation Shipping Line Ltd.

[Top Nation Shipping flag] image by Jorge Candeias

Red, white "T" and "N" centered and two narrow bars above and below the letters.
Jorge Candeias,, 27 March 2001

Valles Steamship Company

In 1995 they relocated to Canada and changed name to Valles Steamship (Canada) Inc.
Neale Rosanoski, 23 January 2003