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Dutch Houseflags of Shipping Companies [g]

Last modified: 2022-01-08 by rob raeside
Keywords: gruno | gevelco | goedkoop |
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• Geluk Dredging
• GENCHART, Rotterdam
• de Gerlien-van Tiem
• Gevelco
• Simon Marius Hugo van Gijn
• Gomatrans
• Van de Graaf & Meeusen
• Gruno

• Goedkoop
• W.M. Goudsbloem

• The Netherlands
• The Netherlands - Index of all pages
• Houseflags of Dutch Shipping Companies
• Houseflags of Shipping Companies

Geluk Dredging

Geluk BV (litt. ‘happiness’ – this must be a family name) is a Dutch dredging firm situated at Doetinchem on the Oude IJssel River, between Arnhem and the Dutch-German border. Homepage in English: “Geluk Dredging BV is active in the field of civil engineering and is specialized in dredging, reclamation and screening of dredge material. The company was founded as far back as 1859, when the harbour at Tholen was dredged. Since 1996, Geluk BV has been a member of the Smals group, a Dutch company active on the national market for industrial sand and gravel.” Various kind of dredging boats are operated “enabling (Geluk) to operate on open water and in closed borrow pits, dredging to depths of up to 50 metres”.

Shown on the top of the homepage is the deep suction dredger ‘IJsselmeer’ flying a white flag bearing the company logo, a black stylized initial ‘G’ on a yellow ground.  Better seen by clicking the relevant caption in the ‘Equipment’ section (top of left menu there), the ‘IJsselmeer’ photo. Other images seem to indicate that the logo has no black border when appearing on the house flag.
Jan Mertens, 28 Nov 2006

GENCHART, Rotterdam

General Shipping & Chartering Services (GENCHART), Rotterdam - white flag, blue "G".
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995.
Jarig Bakker, 21 Dec 2005

de Gerlien-van Tiem

The Dutch firm De Gerlien-van Tiem, a (repairing) shipyard is very much present on the Vlootschouw pages, the company logo shows an orange four-bladed screw dipping into three blue waves, see – for instance – the page about the tanker vessel ‘Alexia’ and a number of photos indeed shows the flag, but never very clear.  Luckily there is eBay, as such a flag was offered on the French section in May 2005, item no. 6182516780, on which this image was based.

The flag is white, with horizontal orange edges each of which abuts on twin blue stylized waves; the logo mentioned above is in the centre of the flag, the screw as far left as possible, and accompanied by the words ‘scheepsreparatiebedrijf’ (ship repairing co.) and ‘DE GERLIEN-van TIEM v.o.f’ above the three waves, and the place name DRUTEN under them.  The letters are black without serifs.

I think this is an example of a flag where a good motif is somewhat pushed aside in favour of the company name and mention of its activity.  (And one of many examples, quite common in inland navigation, of customers flying their supplier’s house flag.)

The firm’s website (in Dutch) mentions 1967 as the founding year of this family business which not only supplies screws and repairs various kinds of inland vessels but - since 1995 - delivers them as well in the sense that so-called casco’s or hulls, built elsewhere, are completely outfitted. Druten, by the way, is on the river
Waal (as the Rhine is called once it has crossed the German-Dutch border), not far from Nijmegen.
Jan Mertens, 13 Jun 2006

Gevelco

Jan Mertens reported this link with mainly Dutch houseflags. Gevelco - three horizontal stripes of green and white; on white black "GEVELCO".
Jarig Bakker, 3 Mar 2005

Some background information concerning the Gevelco house flag: Link to company website, officially ‘Gevelco Logistic Services’ based at Rotterdam:
The group consists of four firms: Gevelco DistriPort (logistics and distribution centre, warehouses, etc.), Gevelco Project Services (project cargo, heavy lift centre, industrial packaging, etc.), Gevelco Inland Shipping and the affiliated German company Gevelco-Schot Schiffahrts- und Speditionsgesellschaft mbH at Duisburg.  Incidentally, the name derives from the Van der Gevel family, still at the helm.

As concerns inland navigation, “Gevelco controls an extensive fleet of approx 60 charter barges which sail all West-European rivers, with the emphasis on the German Canals”.  (Some essential info is still missing: when was the company founded, for instance?)

For an example of the house flag as we know it, see this webpage, photo of ‘Rodort 7’ flying the flag; there is a drawing as well.   A horizontally divided green-white-green flag (Rotterdam indeed!) bears the (shortened) company name in black upper case letters: ‘GEVELCO’.
‘Binnenvaart’ gives a longer name; ungarbled, it reads ‘Van der Gevel & Co. Scheepvaart Onderneming (i.e. shipping company) NV’.

A modern version waved from the top of the Kilamanjaro, held by a sturdy skipper, Dick Oosse. Now the name reads ‘Gevelco’ in a modern font, showing extract of photo.  I suppose we should call this not a variant, but rather a touched-up or modernized version.
Jan Mertens, 26 Jun 2006

Simon Marius Hugo van Gijn

image by Martijn Nekkers, 21 December 2021

Simon Marius Hugo van Gijn (1848-1937) was a timber merchant in the old Dutch town Dordrecht. Van Rijn was a liberal member of the Dutch parliament between 1889 and 1909 as well. He was also the owner of the schooner brigg Odin, built in 1860 in Amsterdam. The ship is depicted at the Italian port Bari around 1880 on a ship's portrait. Master of the ship was Filippus Glimminga whose name is prominent on the picture. On the picture are a lot of flags depicted. Prominent is the house flag of shipowner Van Gijn.
Martijn Nekkers, 21 December 2021

images by Martijn Nekkers, 21 December 2021

Among the other flags we notice two so-called seaman's union flags. The seaman's union in the 19th century can be regarded as a mutual insurance for seafarers in those days. Members were allowed to have their own membership number depicted on the flag of the union. Captain Glimminga, who originated from the Dutch Port Delfzijl, in the northern province of Groningen, was a member of 'De Vereeniging' (The Union) of Delfzijl and had number 32 on this flag. He was also member of seaman's union 'Tot nut van Handel en Zeevaart' (To the benefit of Trade and Navigation) of Dordrecht. In the last union he had nr. 5 on this flag. Maybe the reason of this membership there was that the vessel Odin was registered in Dordrecht, the seat of shipowner Van Rijn.
Sources: Muzzeeaquarium Delfzijl, Foundation Maritiem Historische Databank and Wikipedia
Martijn Nekkers, 21 December 2021

Gomatrans

Yesterday I spotted a Guyana-type flag in the Oude Houthaven in Amsterdam: fly is orange, a blue chevron reaching from hoist to fly, and a white hoist triangle charged with a blue serifed "G".

Jan Mertens was pretty sure it was "Gomatrans", a (small) company based in Krimpen aan de IJssel. Homepage: Gomatrans = Goudriaan Maritiem Transport. Its main (only?) asset is the "Concordia" - but the name "Goudriaan" is well known, e.g. Van Nievelt, Goudriaan.

The Vlootschouw-site shows the "Concordia" with the houseflag clearly visible.
Jarig Bakker, 29 Jun 2007

Van de Graaf & Meeusen

‘Van de Graaf & Meeusen Watertransport BV’ is a Dutch inland shipping company established at Ridderkerk, S.E. of Rotterdam.  Website, Dutch only: Besides acting as a freighting office for a number of private owners the company operates eight vessels, all pushboats but one, and a number of push barges to be augmented by hired ones should the need arise (and incidentally also serving as temporary storage).
The firm’s own fleet is described in the ‘Vloot’ (i.e. fleet) section (click, then select from left menu): The present company was founded as the result of a 1996 merger between freighting offices Van de Graaf at Amsterdam and Meeusen at Rotterdam, the aim being to stand stronger in a market where the official goods clearing exchange had been abolished.   Two years later the barges, personnel, and customers of WVD or ‘Willem van Driel’s Stoomboot- en Transportondernemingen NV’ (i.e. Willem van Driel Steamer and Transport Enterprises) were taken over.
Above account was taken from the history section, a page which loyally shows WVD’s house flag as well as V&M’s: Red field with a very large white disk bearing the company logo described as a “midwater buoy” symbolizing safe waters.   As far as I can see on the flag this red buoy is placed somewhat askew as well, suggesting a bobbing movement; it is accompanied by thin black serifed initials ‘G’ and ‘M’ at left and right, respectively.
Binnenvaart page dedicated to 'Mover 1'(house flag shown as drawing).
Jan Mertens, 25 Jan 2009

Gruno

Jan Mertens reported this link with mainly Dutch houseflags. Gruno, Groningen - green flag, white diamond charged with green "G". - Green and white are the colors of Groningen city.
Jarig Bakker, 3 Mar 2005

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