Lloyd Triestino di Navigazione S.p.A.

(Est. 1833)

In 1849 a third division was established, the "Art and Literature Section", provided with its own printing house. This divison issued daily neswpaper (the Lloyd's Journal, Trieste Observer), books (classic works, history, geography, natural sciences, nautical books, etc. (on the left), providing thus commercial information and acting as editor of books and novels not necessarily linked with the Company's business. The 3rd division was closed in 1928. In 1853 the Company started building its own shipyard, called Arsenale, both for newbuildings and maintenance of the fleet. The shipyard was completed and fully operational in 1861.

In 1869 Lloyd Austriaco became a shareholder in the 'Compagnie Universelle du Canal de Suez', of which a member of Lloyd's Board (Pasquale Revoltella) was appointed Vice-President. At the opening of the Suez Canal, on November 17, 1869, three Company's vessels - Pluto, America and Vulcano - were in the first convoy that crossed the Canal. This historic event, that opened the trades to the Indian and Far East markets via a shorter route, marks a milestone in the shipping industry. Next year, in 1870, the Company launched the Trieste-Bombay service, entering the markets of the Indian subcontinent. The service was then extended in 1880 to Singapore and Hong Kong tracing new routes to the Far East.

In 1878 the Company - in the height of its development - decided to build a new Headquarters Building, wider, more functional and of prestige for the town, to witness the success and the power achieved. This new Headquarters Building was in Trieste's main square, Piazza Unita'. With its fine ashlar-work and decorations with columns and pillars of Corinthian order, the Company's building became a historical landmark for Trieste. In 1886, on the 50th anniversary of the Company, the fleet had grown to 86 steamships, deployed in 1526 round-trips for worldwide destinations.

20th Century developments:

By the end of the 19th century Lloyd Austriaco activities had extended to four continents, namely Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. In the same time the Company had started its passenger services. The new century saw Lloyd Austriaco fleet increased to 62 ships totalling 236,000 GWT. With the outbreak of the First World War the company's fleet suffered a dramatic and drastic loss :33 vessels were confiscated by the Austrian Government for military purposes, transport of the Army, and to be used as hospital ships; 8 ships were captured in foreign ports by enemies, while 11 were sunk following hostile bombing. In 1919 at the end of the war, which saw the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolution and Italy among the winning nations, the Peace Treaty gave Trieste to Italy. On the 3rd January 1919, the Company changed its name to "Lloyd Triestino".

In the period after the First World War the Company started with determination a huge project in order to recover from war losses. In a short time frame the fleet grew to 53 ships deployed in the resumed services to four continents. The Agency network was restored and enlarged to 125 Agencies. A strong boost was given to the renewed passengers services. In 1931 VICTORIA I, the most prestigious of its passenger vessels, was launched. It was firstly deployed in the Egyptian trade, and then in the Indian one.

By 1937 the Italia Flotte Riunite concern had made rapid recovery and repaid the Government bonds which had supported it. It was then changed into a Limited Company under the name Italia Societa Anonima di Navigazione. Lloyd Triestino was incorporated into the new company. A new holding company (FINMARE) was formed and created four self contained shipping companies:

After 1937 following a restructuring of major national shipping companies, whose control and coordination passed under the jurisdiction of a government-owned financial company (Finmare), Lloyd Triestino fleet grew to 85 owned vessels deployed in 17 services to Asia, Africa, and Australia. During the Second World War 68 ships were lost, and a thousand seafarers died. At the end of the war, the Company's fleet was composed of 5 ships only. Nevertheless, the Company once again was able to regain strength quickly. New buildings were ordered, traditional services and agency network resumed worldwide. In 1956, its fleet totalled 28 owned vessels.

In 1956 LT fleet was back to 31 vessels. In the 1960s services to the Far East and Australia were reorganized when two new passenger vessels, the Galileo Galilei and the Guglielmo Marconi, were put into service.

The Containerisation Revolution:

In the 1970's there was a revolution in shipping with containers taking the place of bulk transport and passenger sea lines gradually being replaced by airlines. Lloyd Triestino was a pioneer in the containerisation on the Europe to Africa, Asia and Australia trade lanes. These where the times of new strategic alliances with the main international shipping companies. Thus, in 1972 a big Shipping Lines Pool named ANZECS was founded to link Europe and Australia; a year later Lloyd Triestino entered MAFECS, a similar liner service connecting the Mediterranean to the Far East. The Company contributed to the new venture by supplying newly built full containerships, such as the 1,698 teu 'Lloydiana' to ANZECS (the first Italian full container vessel) and 1,446 teu sisterships 'Nipponica' and 'Mediterranea' to MAFECS.

In 1976 two new Ro-Ro ships were launched on the West Africa service. In 1977 Lloyd Triestino participated in the newly founded SAECS service, which linked the Mediterranean to South Africa, by contributing with two 1,361 teu sisterships, 'Europa' and 'Africa'.

By 1977 all long distance passenger travel had ceased, although many cargo ships continued to carry a few passengers. A cruising company was set up (Italia Crociere Internazionali) to employ the remaining passenger vessels. Between 1979 and 1980 the Italian Line (Italia Crociere Internazionali) operated two ex- Lloyd Triestino liners SS Galileo Galilei and SS Guglielmo Marconi as a cruise ships, but the venture proved unprofitable. Discouraged by the lack of success, Italian Line (Italia Crociere Internazionali) decided to withdraw from passenger services in 1980 and instead concentrate on freight traffic.