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Petrol company Houseflags (The Netherlands)

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Amsterdamse Olie Transport Maatschappij

by Jarig Bakker, 22 Oct 2003

N.V. Amsterdamse Olie Transport Maatschappij, Amsterdam - a most intriguing flag: blue with a green disk bordered with a yellow cable, charged with some device in yellow and red.
(description and explanation: beats me!)
Source: houseflagchart attached to the magazine "De Blauwe Wimpel", April 1956.
Jarig Bakker, 22 Oct 2003

Nederlandse Pacific Tankvaart (CALTEX)

by Jarig Bakker, 20 Oct 2003

N.V. Nederlandse Pacific Tankvaart Maatschappij, Den Haag.
houseflag: Blue with in the center a white disk, fimbriated black, charged with a red five-pointed star, over which in black letters
"CALTEX".
Image from Flagchart of houseflags of Dutch shipping companies, attached to the magazine "De Blauwe Wimpel", April 1956.
Jarig Bakker, 20 Oct 2003

Nederlandse Pacific Tankvaart (Caltex). I think you will find that there is no black edging to the white disc i.e. it is the normal Caltex Petroleum Corporation flag. One of the misleading tricks is for some sources to separate some colours by use of black lines and as they are not consistent with this format one is left unsure whether the lines are part of the design or not. The same comment applies to Shell Tankers.
Neal Rosanoski, 6 Dec 2003

ESSO Tankvaart Maatschappij

by Jarig Bakker, 23 Oct 2003

Adapted from this website: ESSO Tankvaart Maatschappij - white with the old Esso logo, and in a vertical row at the hoist red letters ETM
Jarig Bakker, 23 Oct 2003

At this page is a photo showing flag ceremony (acceptance) whereby Esso house flag is hoisted after De Hoop shipyard’s pennant has been lowered. Also in the same page, there is a flag of Esso Tankvaart Maatschappij (ETM). This flag is close of that of the french sub-company Standard Française des Pétroles.
In 1920, Standard Oil of New Jersey created in France the company "l’Économique" (the Economic) which join the same year "la Pétroléenne" (the Petroleane) a french society belonging at the families FENAILLE and DESPEAUX. The society will take the name of "Standard Française des Pétroles" in 1936 after an association with the shipowner "Etablissements ANDRE et fils" then in 1952 of "Esso Standard".
Dominique Cureau, 9 Apr 2008

Petroleum Industrie Maatschappijn (ESSO)

by Jarig Bakker, 20 Oct 2003

N.V. Petroleum Industrie Maatschappij, Den Haag.
Houseflag: white with on the hoist in a vertical row red capitals PIM; in the fly a blue fimbriated oval with the firm's logo. (I searched on the Internet but couldn't find a logo like that; however the houseflagchart of "De Blauwe Wimpel", and "All about Ships & Shipping, 1959" have the same lettering of the logo.
Image from Flagchart of houseflags of Dutch shipping companies, attached to the magazine "De Blauwe Wimpel", April 1956.
Jarig Bakker, 20 Oct 2003

Petroleum Industrie Maatschappij. Sources tend to offer conflicting detail with dates and exact names but it seems that the company originated around the 1890s as American Petroleum Co., which despite its name comprised a Dutch and a Belgian branch with a white flag bearing a saltire of the respective national colours i.e. a triband of the Dutch from upper hoist to lower fly and one of Belgium from lower hoist to upper fly, this being surmounted by a white diamond which most sources show as defined black but Talbot-Booth shows undefined, this diamond bearing the black letters "APC". Reed 1912 shows the letters as being "A.P.Co." with the "o" enhanced and the dot under it but this seems incorrect. After WW1 the company split into two, probably following the takeover by Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey. The Belgian branch continued as American Petroleum Co. Société Anonyme Belge until May 1939 when it became Standard American Petroleum Co. S.A. and going by Talbot-Booth 1936 & 1937 it continued to use this original flag. In 1940 its 2 ships were transferred to the associate Panama Tanker Co.. Post WW2 they resumed becoming Esso Standard (Belgium) S.A. and continued with the basic flag but replaced the lettering with the blue "Esso". Around 1970 it became Esso Belgium S.A. but ceased as shipowners in the middle 1990s and I do not know whether it continued with its own flag up until then or whether it adopted that of the Esso Group.
The Dutch branch continued initially as American Petroleum Co. and adopted a new flag of white with a green bend bearing a diamond charged with the black letters "APC" and later became Standard Amerikaansche Petroleum N.V. when it adopted its first variation of the Esso flag placing the red letters "SAPC" in vertical line in the hoist before changing by or during WW2 to N.V. Petroleum Industrie Maatschappij.
At the end of the 1950s it became Esso Tankvaart Maatschappij with another change of flag and continued in shipping until the latter 1980s.
Neal Rosanoski, 6 Dec 2003

American Petroleum Co. old flag

by Jarig Bakker, 9 Dec 2003, after image sent by Neal Rosanoski, 6 Dec 2003

American Petroleum Co. new flag

by Jarig Bakker, 9 Dec 2003, after image sent by Neal Rosanoski, 6 Dec 2003

Esso Standard (Belgium) S.A

by Jarig Bakker, 9 Dec 2003, after image sent by Neal Rosanoski, 6 Dec 2003

Royal Dutch Shell

by Jarig Bakker, 20 Oct 2003
See image at National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

Shell Tankers N.V., Den Haag; houseflag: red, with white disk, fimbriated black, charged with a yellow shell.
Image from Flagchart of houseflags of Dutch shipping companies, attached to the magazine "De Blauwe Wimpel", April 1956.
Jarig Bakker, 20 Oct 2003

The Royal Dutch Shell plc (commonly known as Shell), is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company incorporated in the United Kingdom and headquartered in the Netherlands. Created in 1907 by the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and Shell Transport & Trading, it is the largest company in the world, in terms of revenue, and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors".
On March 2, 2014, I found several pictures with the official Shell flag (See the picture of the flag in their Amsterdam office and the picture of the flag in their London office)
The official flag is a horizontal flag with a yellow vertical stripe on the mast, then a vertical red stripe (half in size regarding the yellow stripe) and then the rest of the horizontal white flag bears the logo in the middle. (Source: Name and logo)
Esteban Rivera, 23 March 2014

Asiatic Petroleum Company

image by Miles Li, 17 July 2019

Founded in London on 29 June 1903 as a joint venture between the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and the Shell Transport and Trading Company Limited (which themselves merged to become the Royal Dutch Shell Group in April 1907). Ceased to exist (formally subsumed into Royal Dutch Shell) in December 1945.
Miles Li, 17 July 2019

Standard Amerikaansche Petroleum N.V. (Standard American Petrol Company Ltd)

by Jarig Bakker, 9 Dec 2003, after image sent by Neal Rosanoski, 6 Dec 2003

Standard-Vacuum Tankvaart Maatschappij

by Jarig Bakker, 15 Oct 2003

N.V. Standard-Vacuum Tankvaart Maatschappij, Den Haag
Houseflag: White with Blue disk, interrupted by a White horizontal Band with narrow Blue stripes on top and below, charged with Red STANVAC.
Image from Flagchart of houseflags of Dutch shipping companies, attached to the magazine "De Blauwe Wimpel", April 1956.
Jarig Bakker, 15 Oct 2003

Nederlandsche Koloniale Petroleum Maatschappij

image by Eugene Ipavec, 21 Oct 2007

For the Stanvac house flags on FOTW-ws see the pages “Petrol company Houseflags (The Netherlands)” and “House Flags of U.S. Shipping Companies: ExxonMobil”.
For a number of years, a Dutch variant of this flag was flown by the ‘Nederlandsche Koloniale Tankvaart Maatschappij NV’ (i.e. Dutch Colonial Tank Transportation Co., Ltd) established at The Hague.

The following highlights were found on this interesting site relating the history of Standard Oil, Esso, etc. from a Dutch viewpoint: In 1926 the ‘Nederlandsche Koloniale Petroleum Maatschappij’ (i.e. Dutch Colonial Petroleum Co. founded in 1912 by Standard Oil and Socony Vacuum Corp.) started shipping oil between the Dutch East Indies and Singapore. 1935, name change to ‘Nederlandsche Koloniale Tankvaart Maatschappij’. Most ships lost during the war with Japan, 1942-1945. New name change in 1947: ‘Standard Vacuum Tankvaart Maatschappij'. Van Uden signed over tanker fleet in 1958; the next year Dutch ships were no longer welcome in Indonesia so the tankers were leased to Petroleum Shipping Services Co. Inc. (Panama). New name in 1959: ‘Standard Vacuum Petroleum Transport’ shortened to ‘Stanvac’ in 1960 which company no longer operated ships of its own.

The Dutch maritime discussion forum ‘Kombuispraat’ (i.e. “galley talk”) shows very interesting house flag material: The first flag plate is said to be pre-WWII, which I readily believe, with no. 12 showing the NKTM flag. The Stanvac relation is obvious given the white field, the blue company name – reduced to the key word ‘KOLONIALE’ – and the bulging red lines enclosing it. In this version, however, the red lines are lengthened and actually touch the flag’s edges.
Jan Mertens, 21 Oct 2007