House flags of Swedish Shipping Companies (13)

Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) ^[1] shows the house flag of "Rederiaktiebolaget Nord" (#294, p. 50), a company based in Stockholm, as divided blue-red by a descending diagonal and charged with a white "N" in the red part and with a white star in the blue part.
Ivan Sache, 23 April 2008

Nordic
[Rederi A/B Nordic]

image by Phil Nelson
Source: Colin Stewart and John B. Styring: Flags, Funnels and Hull Colours, 1963 ^[6].

The company appears to have ceased operations in the mid 1970s. However Brown, 1978 and 1982 ^[3], shows a flag of 3 blue and 2 white horizontal bands with the middle blue broken by white with this bearing a blue "N" with the connection, if any, not known.
Neale Rosanoski, 5 August 2003

Nordö Link

Originally the company was known as Rederi A/B Nordö, with the blue swallowtail and yellow cross couped, being bought by Rederi A/B Sea-Link c.1986 who reorganized it as Rederi A/B Nordö-Link under which name it still operates although now owned since 2002 by Finnlines Oyj. The new flag as shown by Jorg may have been black but the table flag shown on the Nüsse site^[5] is definitely dark blue blue and this is supported by the logo on the company website [see se~n510] although there is another variation offered by the kommandobryggan website which dispenses with the top and bottom bands and shows a black circle but with the outer lines of the "N" being blue [see n512]. For a brief period between 1992 and 1994 the company ran the Euroway service but it ceased due to being uneconomic. As shown by the Nüsse site there was a flag of a vertical blue oblong bearing a large white "E" under an arc of 5 yellow stars [see e94]. Not the normal shape for a sea flag so it may have been for shoreside purposes only.
Neale Rosanoski, 2 November 2006

Nordship Group

image by Jarig Bakker, 24 October 2005
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World ^[4]

Saltsjöbaden - horizontal Blue-White-Blue flag; in center red italic "N". (Saltsjöbaden is a port a bit SE of Stockholm)
Jarig Bakker, 24 October 2005

The image at the company website shows a more pronounced arrowhead on the "N".

Nordship operates first of all The Baltic with cargos containing principally steel, biomass fuels and forest products.

Rederi AB Nordship is part of the group Engco Invest AB situated in Gävle. Other companies that are part of this group are the ship broker companies AB P J Haegerstrands and Stefan Trybom AB in Gävle, plus HML Shipping AB, Söderhamn Shipping AB in Söderhamn and Ivar Lundh & Co AB in Stockholm.

Phil Nelson, 25 December 2005

The name originated in 1976 when a pool of 8 small Swedish shipping companies formed to compete with the German and Dutch companies that dominated the Baltic and North Sea trades. The ships are noted as sailing under a common flag and this is no doubt the source for the reference in Brown. The pool appears to have been initiated by Stefan Trybom A/B and in 1985 Jacob Engwall, a member of the pool, gained control of Trybom and was in turn succeeded by his son Torsten who in 1988 was behind the founding of Engco Invest A/B who became full owners of Stefan Trybom A/B and another Gävle company, A/B P.J. Haegerstrand. In the 1990s the operation of the Nordship pool came under Stefan Trybom A/B and this no doubt explains why the flag is shown on the Josef Nüsse ^[5] site under that name. Then in 2001 Rederi A/B Nordship was formed being controlled by Engco Invest A/B though Trybom were still involved as managers for part of the fleet until around the end of 2004. As noted the upward stroke of the "N" ends in an arrowhead and in fact, as shown by both the website and Nüsse, the letter is far broader than the Brown depiction.

Affiliate: P.J. Haegerstrand

The associate company A/B P.J. Haegerstrand, formed in 1859 and one of the oldest companies in Gävle, was also involved in its early days in ship owning. The flag appears as a logo on the company site (www.haegerstrands.se) being blue with a gold horizontal oval bearing the black [they look black to me but there is a chance that they are also dark blue like the flag field] letters "PJH" with the flag being flown by the sailing ship "Peru" which is shown in their gallery of their historic vessels.
Neale Rosanoski, 8 July 2006
image in this post contributed by Neale Rosanoski, 8 July 2006

Norman & Nilsson

Given by Collectors Corner as based in Stockholm, nothing has been traced. The flag from the cap badge is white with a blue circle bearing the gold letters "N&N" with the "&" being shorter and the outer leg of the "N"s curved in line with the circle.
Neale Rosanoski, 12 March 2007

Norrsken

Rederi AB Norrsken is a Swedish tourist shipping company organizing trips in the neighbourhood of Stockholm and the famous archipelago nearby. Seat is Stocksund to the North of Stockholm; the name means "northern light" or "aurora borealis". Website, Swedish only: http://www.norrsken.org/.

Via Google Translate we learn that the firm was founded in 1991 and indeed caters for tourists wanting to discover the many waterways and maritime corners of the region. This includes tours with a steamer, bringing private passengers to their summer retreat on one of the islands, being involved in media events, etc. but also technical assistance to sailers. Norrsken makes a point of stressing ecological awareness and practices.

Shown as a drawing, the house flag is a very Danish-looking pennant: red with a white cross throughout - which necessarily resembles the Scandinavian or Nordic variety - and a white disk in the cross’s centre bearing a black initial "N" (serifed).

In any case the Norrsken pennant is presented here.
Jan Mertens, 2 December 2009

[Rederi A/B] Norrström

Operated by Ivan Jeansson of Kalmar from at least 1942 until the beginning of the 1970s. The Collectors Corner cap badge shows a blue flag with a yellow diamond.
Neale Rosanoski, 12 March 2007

Novator
Rederi A/B Novator

image by Jarig Bakker 26 November 2005
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of Shipping Companies of the World, 1995 ^[4]

Noås Industri A/B

Flag shown not identical with funnel depiction

image contributed by Neale Rosanoski, 2 July 2007

Flag nearly identical with funnel

image contributed by Neale Rosanoski, 28 December 2008

Formed in 1968 by Ove Nordtröm and Sven Åström though the latter left in 1975, the company apparently specializes in water works and in the process has owned tugs and other small vessels mainly through the subsidiary Noås Nordmuddring A/B. From photos on the www.tugboatlars.se site the flag is black [or certainly a very near colour] with a red logo.
Neale Rosanoski, 2 July 2007

I have now found a photo [dated 2.4.2007] of one of the tugs flying a [definitely] black flag with the full logo as shown on the funnel i.e. the "L" shape being included [see se~n568a]. On the original sighting [dated 8.5.2006] this addition is not included so it seems that there is either more than one flag or there has been a change. The positioning of the "L" shape on this flag seems to also be at variance with the funnel logo i.e. the funnel shows the "L" forward but the flag has it in the fly. But other tug funnels have the "L" placed aft which is then in line with this flag.
Neale Rosanoski, 28 December 2008

NYKLauritzenCool A/B

Headquartered in Stockholm this company started 2001 as LauritzenCool A/B as a partnership of Lauritzen Reefers of Denmark and Cool Carriers A/B of Sweden. The original flag taken from the Josef Nüsse ^[5] table flag was white with their blue and red symbol in the upper hoist and below this across the centre of the flag the legend "LauritzenCool" in red and blue. In 2005 NYK Reefers joined the partnership which became NYKLauritzenCool A/B. The new flag, confirmed by a photo being flown by the "River Phoenix" 3/2006, is white with the symbol now larger and placed centrally with below it the new name "NYKLauritzenCool" in blue, red, and blue. The table flag version is double sided but the ship flag is only one sided so possibly the former flag, if flown at sea, was the same.
Neale Rosanoski, 12 March 2007