DFDS Scandinavian Seaways (Danish Shipping Company)

Last modified: 2025-07-12 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: dfds | det forenede dampskibs-selskab | scandinavian seaways | tor line | cross(formy) |
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• DFDS Scandinavian Seaways (United Steamship Co. - Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab)
• Introduction of DFDS
• 1st DFDS Flags
• DFDS Tor Line

• Denmark
• Joseph Nüsse website
• House flags of shipping companies

DFDS Scandinavian Seaways (United Steamship Co. - Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab)

The flag is white with a blue funnel symbol sfted to hoist and blue inscription "DFDS" shifted to fly.
Source: Joseph Nüsse website
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 July 2025

Variant

Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab A/S, More precisely Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab A/S which led to the current name of DFDS A/S being adopted in 1970.The flag is a dark blue and apparently still applies although another flag appears on the Joseph Nüsse website of white with the white cross formy appearing on a blue circle in the hoist accosted with the red legend of "DFDS" over "SEAWAYS" and the flag base consisting of a bicolour of light over dark blue which would refer either to the DFDS Seaways Service instituted in 1971 or possibly the subsidiary DFDS Seaways A/S formed in 2000. It is in line with the vessel colour scheme but may not have been actually used at sea.
Michael Wilson, 27 Apr 2004

Introduction of DFDS

For the first 100 years DFDS used a funnel symbol from the design used by Koch & Henderson. It was a black funnel with a red band across the middle. As time went by, several shipping companies worldwide used the same funnel colours, and this caused confusion. Starting on 1 January 1967, a white cross inside a blue circle was placed in the middle of the red band.
Ever since it was introduced in 1866, the logo of DFDS has been a white cross on a blue background in various designs used in connection with the company name. The present logo was designed and introduced in 2010.
The DFDS "house flag", as it is known in nautical language, has remained unchanged since the start of DFDS. The white cross on a blue background is used as a symbol on the company's printed stationery, linen, upholstery, buildings and in many other places. All DFDS ships and transport equipment, trailers and containers bear the white cross today. The white cross was first seen in use in 1862. What made the founders choose the white cross on a blue background from the Koch & Henderson´s flag, instead of Prior´s or one of the other partner´s flags, is uncertain. After the Danish defeat in the war of 1864, Tietgen presumably saw some sort of national symbolism in this cross due to its resemblance to the white cross in the Danish flag. He used various forms of the cross as a symbol for some of his companies.
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 July 2025 The first visible proof of the use of the white cross by DFDS is in a painting by the marine artist Carl Neumann, which features the Koch & Henderson and The General Danish Steamship Company fleets that were assembled in Copenhagen in 1862, four years prior to the founding of DFDS. In the painting, the white cross is clearly shown on a blue background. The 19 ships from Koch & Henderson, H.P. Prior, and The General Danish Steamship Company formed the foundation of the first DFDS fleet. It was C.P.A. Koch, who used the blue flag with the white cross, when Koch & Henderson was founded in 1856, while Prior´s ships had a red flag with a white star (see image above). Since 2010 all DFDS ships have blue funnels with the white cross enclosed by a white circle. At the same time, the logo was modernised with minor alterations so that the image is more coherent and up-to-date.
Source: company webpage
Neale Rosanoski, 3 Jan 2014

1st DFDS Flags

image by Jarig Bakker, 29 Nov 2005

3:5 image by Jarig Bakker, modified by Klaus-Michael Schneidr, 3 July 2025

From the website of the National Maritime Museum, the house flag of the United Steamship Co.. A rectangular dark blue flag with a white cross formy. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn." Brown (1951) has: Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab, København.
Source: Loughran (1995)
Jarig Bakker, 2 Sep 2004

DFDS Tor Line

The flag is white with a blue funnel symbol sfted to hoist and blue inscription "TOR LINE" shifted to fly.
Source: Joseph Nüsse website
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 July 2025

A similar flag, but with the cross appearing within a white ring on a blue angled panel and the legend being blue and "DFDS" over "TOR LINE" shows on the company site for DFDS Tor Line A/S which was formed in 1998.
Michael Wilson, 27 Apr 2004

Again on the Nüsse site such a flag shows, but without the "DFDS" reference, and this appears to relate to the fact that the company was originally Tor Line A/B of Sweden [though is now based in Norway], formed in 1966, with a white flag bearing a black and white target emblem above 2 blue wavy lines of sea, the Nüsse flag presumably adopted after the company was acquired at some point by DFDS and the website version adopted after the 1999 name change to DFDS Tor Line A/S. (It is now somewhat difficult to allocate such groups to one specific country without losing the thread).
Neale Rosanoski, 27 Apr 2004

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