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Czech Houseflags of Shipping Companies

ČSPL
ČSPL pennant - variant
Czech Shipping Company
Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping
Vodní zasilatelství Kedršt

See also:

ČSPL

image by Ivan Sache, 9 Apr 2006

A flag in the national colours is shown on the website of this Czech inland shipping company, situated in Děčín: horizontally divided white over red, a five-pointed blue star in the centre. (It is certainly longer, as shown on that same page.)

A message on above site warns that due to floods there will be no traffic on the Elbe (Labe) River between Strekov and Magdeburg, Germany - sometimes there is no calm sailing on inland waters, too.

On the net, the company name 'Československá Plavba Labská a.s' is translated as Czechoslovak Elbe Shipping Co. There have been adversities such as insufficient water levels in summer leading to reduced transport and financial difficulties ending in bankruptcy.

The company now seems to be part of the Argo Group, a logistics conglomerate.

As an interesting aside, this snippet from this webpage:
After WWI, Czechoslovakia was handed over a small part of the port of Hamburg for the duration of 99 years, ensuring access to the high seas; this plot of land was used by ČSPL from 1929 on for mooring barges, warehouses, depots, etc.
Jan Mertens, 4 Apr 2006

ČSPL pennant

image by Jarig Bakker, 17 Apr 2007

Yesterday I saw a burgee: white over red, with a blue 5-pointed star towards the hoist, in the Amsterdam Houthaven. Jan Mertens identified it as the penant of 'Československá Plavba Labská a.s' or Czechoslovak Elbe Shipping Co.
Jarig Bakker, 17 Apr 2007

ČSPL pennant variant

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 June 2007

ČSPL - It is a white over red pennant with a blue 5-point star on the dividing line. The star is pointing to the hoist.
The company is located in Děčín (Czech republic). A crewman of one of its ships told me, the translation of the name would be "Czech shipping on river Elbe". The abbreviation remained however ČSPL. I asked him, whether the "S" stood for "Slovakian", but he assured, that the company nowadays had to do nothing with Slovakia.
I spotted this flag on 16 April 2007 in at Billwerder Bucht (the cheapest mooring place for inlandshipping in Hamburg).
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 June 2007

Czech Shipping Company

image by Jorge Candeias, 9 Feb 1999

Czech Shipping Company - A blue flag with a narrow vertical band near the hoist in white and a white disc centered in the remaining area with a red star within. I admit that I "improved" this flag a little, since in the original file, the disc was an oval and the star had it's proportions non-standard as a result. I guessed this was an error.
Jorge Candeias, 9 Feb 1999

Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping

image by Jens Pattke, 3 Feb 2002

I found some house flags of former socialist countries in a lexicon on navigation and sea traffic: COS - Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping Ltd. Praha
Source: SCHARNOW, Ullrich: "transpress Lexikon Seefahrt"; transpress VEB Verkag fÜr Verkehrswesen; Berlin (East); 1988; 5.edition.
Jens Pattke, 3 Feb 2002

Vodní zasilatelství Kedršt

image by Eugene Ipavec, 16 Apr 2008

'Vodní zasilatelství Kedršt' (VZK) is a tourist shipping company active in Prague, Czech Republic.
See following websites (the first is official, the second shows the house flag also found on firmy.cz .
Aquamare offers clickable photos of four vessels 'Carina', 'Renata', 'Mili', and 'Vira'.

Houseflag: horizontally divided white over blue, a yellow five-pointed star in the centre.

As far as I understand VZK was founded in 1990, offers various tours on the Vltava (aka Moldau) River plus supplementary haulage using a tug and a pontoon. But for 'Carina' the official vessel list is different from that offered by the Aquamare site - obsolete, no doubt.

VZK roughly translates as "Shipping Transport Kedršt", the last element being a family name.

The 'fotogalerie' (left menu) shows distinguished visitors, among them J. Depp and P. Muk.
Disappointingly, the house flag remains all too discreet on the official photos; for this article - or its ghost - we have to turn to 'ceník' (left menu: rates).
Jan Mertens, 15 Apr 2008