Italian Line

Italian Line

Founded	1932
Defunct	2002
Headquarters	Genoa,Italy

The Italian Line or Italia Line, whose official name was Italia di Navigazione S.p.A., was a passenger shipping line that operated regular transatlantic services between Italy and the United States, and Italy and South America. During the late 1960s the company turned to running cruises, and from 1981 it became a global freight operator.

History

The company was founded in 1932 through a merger of the Genoa-based Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI), the Turin-based Lloyd Sabaudo, and the Trieste-based Cosulich STN lines, encouraged by the Italian government. The new company acquired the Cosulich-owned ships MS Saturnia and MS Vulcania, the Lloyd Sabaudo-owned SS Conte Rosso, SS Conte Biancamano and SS Conte Grande and the NGI-owned SS Giulio Cesare, SS Duilio, SS Roma and MS Augustus. The same year two previously commissioned ocean liners were delivered to the company: SS Rex, that captured the Blue Riband in 1933, and SS Conte di Savoia.

SS Giulio Cesare, built in 1923, in Italian Line service 1932–1937

During World War II, the company lost many ships, including the Rex and the Conte di Savoia. Others were captured by the United States and converted into troopships; four of them survived the war: Conte Biancamano, Conte Grande, Saturnia, and Vulcania.

Commercial service was resumed in 1947 under the company's new name Società di navigazione Italia. In addition to the four vessels returned to the company by the United States, two new vessels, SS Andrea Doria and SS Cristoforo Colombo were commissioned in 1953 and 1954. In 1956, Andrea Doria, the company's three-year-old flagship collided with the Swedish ship Stockholm near Nantucket and sank, with passenger deaths estimated at 46 or 55. The company replaced the Andrea Doria with the SS Leonardo da Vinci, which went into service in 1960. This ship was based on the same design as Andrea Doria, but was larger, and featured technical innovations.

In the late 1950s, aircraft passenger travel had yet to have a noticeable effect on ocean-going passenger numbers between the United States and the Mediterranean. The Italian Line, therefore, ordered two new ships, the SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello. Construction of the ships took longer than expected, and they were not delivered until 1965. Being late into service, they were not able to profitably compete on the North Atlantic route. Although planned for cruising as an alternative, the ships had several design flaws that made their use as cruise ships problematic.

Despite huge financial loss, the Italian Line operated the transatlantic route until 1976, after which the Leonardo da Vinci was withdrawn from service; the Michelangelo and Raffaello had been sold the previous year. The Leonardo da Vinci became a cruise ship in 1977–1978, after which it was withdrawn due to high fuel costs. In 1979 and 1980 the company operated two ex-Lloyd Triestino liners, SS Galileo Galilei and SS Guglielmo Marconi, as a cruise ships, but this again proved unprofitable.

Because of the unprofitability of the cruise business, the Italian Line turned to freight shipping. It operated its principal container services between the Mediterranean, the west coast of North America, and Central and South America, carrying about 180,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of freight in 2001.

Previously owned by the Italian government, the company was privatized in 1998 when sold to d'Amico Società di Navigazione. In August 2002, it was acquired by CP Ships, and in 2005 the Italian Line name ceased to exist following CP's one-brand strategy. CP Ships itself was bought-out in late 2005 by TUI AG, and merged with Hapag-Lloyd in mid-2006.

International identifiers

SCAC Code: ITAU
BIC Code (Container prefixes): ITAU

Ships

Passenger ships

Built	Name	Tonnage^[1]	Shipyard	Operated	Notes
1908	SS Tel Aviv	08,312 GRT8312 GRT	Russell & Co., Scotland	1932–1934	Former Cosulich Line ship; scrapped 1934
1917	SS Colombo	12003 GRT	Palmer S.& E. Co. Ld., Jarrow on Tyne	1932–1941	Refurbished in passenger vessel by Cantieri Baia Napoli. Scuttled at Massaua, 3 April 1941
1922	SS Giulio Cesare	21848 GRT	Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Ltd, UK	1932–1937	transferred to Lloyd Triestino
1923	SS Conte Verde	18765 GRT	William Beardmore & Co., Scotland	1932–1940
1923	SS Duilio	24281 GRT	Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy	1932–1937	transferred to Lloyd Triestino, scrapped 1948
1925	SS Conte Biancamano	24416 GRT	William Beardmore & Co., Scotland	1932–1940 1947–1960
1926	SS Roma	32583 GRT	Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy	1932–1939
1926	MS Vulcania	23970 GRT	Cantiere Navale Triestino, Italy	1932–1940 1947–1965	sold to Siosa Lines
1927	MS Saturnia	23940 GRT	Cantiere Navale Triestino, Italy	1932–1940 1946–1965	scrapped 1965
1927	SS Conte Grande	25661 GRT	Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, Italy	1932–1940 1947–1961	scrapped in 1961
1927	SS Conte Rosso	18017 GRT	William Beardmore & Co., Scotland	1932–1940	torpedoed and sunk by HMS Upholder, 24 May 1941
1928	MS Augustus	32650 GRT	Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy	1932–1939	largest diesel-engined liner of her time
1932	SS Conte di Savoia	48502 GRT	Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Italy	1932–1940	scuttled in Venice by retreating German forces, 11 September 1943. Raised 1945 and scrapped.
1932	SS Rex	51062 GRT	Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy	1932–1940	bombed and sunk off Trieste by RAF and SAAF bombers, 8 September 1944
1932	MS Neptunia	19475 GRT	Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Italy	1937–1940	torpedoed and sunk by HMS Upholder, 18 September 1941
1932	MS Oceania	19507 GRT	Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Italy	1937–1940	torpedoed and sunk by HMS Upholder, 18 September 1941
1951	MS Giulio Cesare	27078 GRT	Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Italy	1951–1973	scrapped 1973
1951	MS Augustus	27090 GRT	Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Italy	1952–1976	scrapped 2012
1951	SS Andrea Doria	29083 GRT	Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy	1953–1956	capsized and sank on 25 July 1956 after colliding with MS Stockholm
1953	SS Cristoforo Colombo	29191 GRT	Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy	1954–1977	scrapped 1982 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan
1960	SS Leonardo da Vinci	33340 GRT	Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy	1960–1980	burned and capsized 4 July 1980, raised and scrapped 1982
1951	MS Rossini	13225 GRT	Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico - San Marco Trieste, Italy	1963	scrapped 1977
1951	MS Donizetti	13226 GRT	Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico - San Marco Trieste, Italy	1963	scrapped 1977
1951	MS Verdi	13226 GRT	Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico - San Marco Trieste, Italy	1963	scrapped 1977
1963	SS Guglielmo Marconi	27905 GRT	Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Italy	1975–1981	scrapped 2002
1965	T/S Michelangelo	45911 GRT	Ansaldo Shipyards, Italy	1965–1975	scrapped 1991
1965	T/S Raffaello	45933 GRT	Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Italy	1965–1975	sunk 1983

Container ships

Built	Name	Tonnage	Capacity	Shipyard	IMO number	Call sign	Flag	Status/Comments
1985	Aquitania	17702 GT	1077 TEU	Stocznia Szczecinska S.A., Poland	8300975	HPUE	Panama	1991 chartered, 1993 purchased from Cyprus
1989	Cristoforo Colombo	32630 GT	3632 TEU	Fincantieri-Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A., Italy	8618449	ICYS	Italy	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia
1989	Amerigo Vespucci	32630 GT	3632 TEU	Fincantieri-Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A., Italy	8618451	ICBA	Italy	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia
1991	S. Caboto	15783 GT	1268 TEU	Fincantieri-Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A., Italy	8618413	ICMS	Italy	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia
1992	California	17123 GT	1410 TEU	Naikai Zosen Corp., Japan	8901743	ICFC	Italy	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia
1994	Cielo del Cile	15778 GT	1512 TEU	Thyssen Nordseewerke GmbH, Germany	9046253	ELVB3	Liberia	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia
1997	Dollart Trader	16165 GT	1608 TEU	MTW Schiffswerft GmbH, Germany	9162356	V2OD5	Antigua & Barbuda	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia
1998	Cielo di San Francisco	25359 GT	2474 TEU	Volkswerft Stralsund GmbH, Germany	9153408	DGZO	Germany	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia
1998	Cielo del Canada	25361 GT	2470 TEU	Meeres-Technik-Wismar, Germany	9138290	V2PE2	Antigua & Barbuda	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia
2000	Cielo del Caribe	13066 GT	1302 TEU	Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft MbH & Co. KG, Germany	9202053	ELXN2	Liberia	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia
2002	Cielo d'America	25580 GT	2462 TEU	Thyssen Nordseewerke GmbH, Germany	9239733	ICCV	Italy	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia
2002	Cielo d'Europa	25535 GT	2462 TEU	Thyssen Nordseewerke GmbH, Germany	9236664	ICCP	Italy	2002 to d'Amico shipping Italia

GRT = Gross Register Tonnage
GT = Gross Tonnage

References

↑ GRT is Gross Register Tonnage

External links

The Ships List (extensive list of ships operated by Italian Line)
Maritime Timetable images (Collection of old company brochures)
The Picture History of the Italian Line, 1932–1977 (book on amazon.com)
The Last Ocean Liners – Italian Line – trade routes and ships of the Italian Line in the 1950s, 60s and 70s

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