Last modified: 2017-05-31 by ivan sache
Keywords: societe maritime coloniale | letters: smc (white) |
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House flag of SMC - Image by Ivan Sache, 22 February 2004
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The establishment of the French mandate on Lebanon and Syria by the
treaty of Lausanne (1923) triggered the commercial relationships with
the Middle-East.
The Société Coopérative de Navigation was founded in Marseilles in
1922 to operate bimonthly passenger and heavy freight
scheduled lines to Alexandria, Port-Said, Jaffa, Beirut, Tripoli,
Lattakia, Alexandrette, Mersin and Cyprus. The Société Maritime Coloniale (SMC) was the technical management branch of the Société
Coopérative de Navigation. Four ships were purchased from the French
Navy, which had decided to modernize its fleet and to get rid of the
obsolete units of German origin.
However, the company lacked experience in the shipping business and its
ships became rapidly obsolete. The company lowered its flag when its
last ships, MS Belgrano, Grand-Liban and Ville-de-Damas were sold out for scrap in 1931.
Source: Paul Bois. Armements marseillais - Compagnies de navigation et navires à vapeur (1831-1988), published by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marseille-Provence [boi03].
Ivan Sache, 22 February 2004
P. Bois [boi03] shows the house flag of the SMC as green with an orange oval charged with the white letters "SMC", the "M" being bigger than the "S" and the "C".
Ivan Sache, 22 February 2004