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House Flags of Hong Kong Shipping Companies 4

Last modified: 2020-07-31 by ian macdonald
Keywords: hong kong | maritime shipping |
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Ocean Base Co., Ltd.

[houseflag of Ocean Base Co., Ltd.] image by Jorge Candeias,


Ocean Tramping Company Ltd

[houseflag of Ocean Tramping Co Ltd] image by Ivan Sache

Yellow flag with a red T inside a red O in the middle.
Source: Josef Nüsse
Ivan Sache, 25 August 2002


Original flag noted as white with a blue ring or "O" enclosing a blue "T".
Neale Rosanoski, 23 January 2003


Original flag
[Ocean Tramping] image by Jarig Bakker, 23 December 2005
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World [lgr95]

White flag, blue circle, blue "T".
Jarig Bakker, 23 December 2005


Oriental Overseas Container Line Ltd

[Oriental Overseas Container Line]
image by Jarig Bakker, 25 January 2006
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World [lgr95]

[Oriental Overseas Container Line]
image by Ivan Sache

Yellow flag with a red flower with white stamens in the middle. The flower has five petals, five long stamens on hte median of each petal, and five groups of two shorter stamens each placed between the long stamens. all the stamens converge into a small central white disk.
The 1993 flag is yellow with OOCL in red in the middle. A flower is placed in the middle of the second O. The flower is similar to that described above but with a different axis and different colours: petals are yellow and stamens are red.
Source: Josef Nüsse
Ivan Sache, 25 August 2002


Correct name is Orient Overseas Container Line. Loughran 1979 shows the 1st flag with a white field but in Brown 1982 he shows the yellow version.
Neale Rosanoski, 23 January 2003


There are some political meanings in this flag, since the flower on this flag is a plum blossom, stylized in the RoC-TW style-- Plum blossom is the alternative emblem of RoC-TW. Historically, the founder of OOCL, C.Y.Tung (1912-1982), was heavily aligned with the Taiwanese cause. C.Y. Tung established the China Lines in 1935 and moved to Taipei in 1949, while the OOCL was established in Hong Kong a few years after that. Until mid-eighties both companies were held by the Tung family, first C.Y. Tung then to Chee-Hwa Tung (Yes, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, PRC -- surprised?). Chiang Kai-shek had seen them for a number of times, and he always regarded the OOCL THE shipping company of the Republic of China. The head of China Lines is, in fact, Chee-Hwa Tung's brother-in-law.
The OOCL shifted their preference towards the PRC side because the company was in crisis in the mid-eighties, the Taiwanese failed to give them any help, but it was the PRC (plus HSBC) which gave them enough help for them to pass it...
China Lines has officially merged into the OOCL, called OOCL Taiwan.
John Ma, 31 August 2002

Oriental Overseas Container Line. Part of Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. which is registered in Bermuda with the principal office in Hong Kong. The version shown by Jarig is correct as he shows white stamens. However his source of Brown 1995 actually shows black stamens as does the 1982 edition, which fact I had not previously clicked to and is presumably a printing error. The 2nd image by Ivan is upside down and when corrected will of course be the same as Jarig's image. The problem is Ivan's source as Josef Nüsse had it upside down on his original website but his new site has it the right way up.
Although the yellow colour of the flag is confirmed by the table flags, photos of the flags flown at sea between at least 2005 and 2010, as evidenced by the attached taken of the "OOCL Europe" showing a flag field which is in line with the creamy yellow shade of the funnel, unless the three that I have located all suffer from similar degrees of fading. The emblem is also larger than that of the table flags. Possibly therefore there are two versions for sea and shore use.
Neale Rosanoski, 17 January 2012


Oriental Steamship

[Oriental Steamship] image by António Martins-Tuválkin , 11 December 2005

The new and rapidly expanding shipping company Orient Steamship is located in Hong Kong.
Founded by brothers John and Philip Koo in 2002, operating two bulk carriers and chartering another one plus a tanker.
The house flag is horizontally divided red above white, a large letter ‘K’ in the middle counterchanged. The initial obviously refers to the family name.
In fact the website’s ‘History’ section details the maritime activities of the Koo family (Tai Chong Cheang Steamship Co. in mainland China since the beginning of 20C, later Valles Steamship in Hong Kong, 1949).
Jan Mertens, 11 December 2005

(Ed: Valles is presently located in Canada)


The "K" letter is a serifed capital (typeface "Georgia"?)
António Martins-Tuválkin , 11 December 2005


Peninsular Shipping Co., Ltd.

[Peninsular Shipping] image by Jarig Bakker, 23 December 2005
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World [lgr95]

White flag, blue "PS".
Jarig Bakker, 23 December 2005


Philippines Steamship Co.

Philippines Steamship Co. image by Ivan Sache, 29 March 2008
Source: Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) [llo12]

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) [llo12] shows the house flag of "Philippines Steamship Co." (#129, p. 43), a company based in Hong Kong, as divided per saltire blue-white-blue-white.
Ivan Sache, 29 March 2008


Prompt Shipping Corp., Ltd.

[Prompt Shipping Corp.] image by Jarig Bakker 16 November 2005
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World, 1995 [lgr95]

Five horizontal stripes White-Red-Blue-Red-White, proportioned c. 1:1:2:1:1.
Jarig Bakker, 16 November 2005


Prosperity Steamship Co. Ltd.

[Prosperity Steamship Co. Ltd.]
image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 21 February 2011

"Prosperity Steamship Co. Ltd’ of Hong Kong, founded in 1961, is briefly described here (near end of page): http://www.mardep.gov.hk/en/pub_services/sdfiles/shipman.html
"shipowners, managers, operators, agency & shipbrokers. Speciality in bulk cement logistics."
The firm is also listed as offering warehousing services. As to cement, PS founded ‘Siam Prosperity Shipping’ in cooperation with Siam Cement (Thailand) at the end of the ‘seventies. A subsidiary is named ‘Bulk Cement Carriers SA(Subsidiary Company)’.
PS cooperates with Selma Group (Philippines) to manage fleet personnel via a local branch; there is, or at least was, a Panamanian venture as well. It seems the number of ships operated has always been low.
A house flag (drawing) appears on above webpage: on a white field are placed three squares in red outline, one above two and all of them slightly overlapping.
Jan Mertens, 20 February 2011

If it was founded in 1961, why was it called "Steamship"?
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 21 February 2011


San Lian Shipping Co. Ltd.

[San Lian Shipping Co. Ltd.]
image by Jan Mertens, 12 May 2010

San Lian Shipping Co. Ltd is a Hong Kong based maritime firm, as - very briefly - indicated on this page. No homepage available apparently, but here we find some essentials:
"The company was set up in 1986 and since then has handled (...) many vessels of different size from capacity 500 to 70,000dwt. (...) The main activities of the company are to act as port agent for vessels calling the ports in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan; to handle cargo loading and discharging include tally, stevedorage and barge arrangement (...); to arrange supply for equipment, bond store, provision, bunker, fresh water and all other utilities as vessel[s] need at the lowest cost; to arrange and co-ordinate for vessel's inspection, annual and special survey [in order to] renew vessel's trading licences and registry; to arrange crew embarking and repatriation."
Shown as a drawing on the first mentioned site, San Lian’s house flag is vertically divided blue (hoist) and red (fly), a yellow vertical stripe, curved in the shape of the initial "S", between them.
Jan Mertens, 12 May 2010


SeaUnion Shipping Co., Ltd.

[SeaUnion Shipping Co Ltd houseflag] image by Jorge Candeias