^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Société Maritime Coloniale (Shipping company, France)

House flag of SMC - Image by Ivan Sache, 22 February 2004

History of the SMC
House flag of the SMC

See also:

History of the SMC

The establishment of the French mandate on Lebanon and Syria by the treaty of Lausanne (1923) triggered the commercial relationships with the Middle-East.
The Société Coopérative de Navigation was founded in Marseilles in 1922 to operate bimonthly passenger and heavy freight scheduled lines to Alexandria, Port-Said, Jaffa, Beirut, Tripoli, Lattakia, Alexandrette, Mersin and Cyprus. The Société Maritime Coloniale (SMC) was the technical management branch of the Société Coopérative de Navigation. Four ships were purchased from the French Navy, which had decided to modernize its fleet and to get rid of the obsolete units of German origin.
However, the company lacked experience in the shipping business and its ships became rapidly obsolete. The company lowered its flag when its last ships, MS Belgrano, Grand-Liban and Ville-de-Damas were sold out for scrap in 1931.

Source: Paul Bois. Armements marseillais - Compagnies de navigation et navires à vapeur (1831-1988), published by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Marseille-Provence [boi03].

Ivan Sache, 22 February 2004

House flag of the SMC

P. Bois [boi03] shows the house flag of the SMC as green with an orange oval charged with the white letters "SMC", the "M" being bigger than the "S" and the "C".

Ivan Sache, 22 February 2004