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MAHART Seashipping, 1964-2004

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ikonLajstrom
  • Active:
    1964-2004
    Country:
    HU
    City:
    Budapest
    Short name:
    MHRT
    In 1964 the task of operating sea-going vessels was also given to Mahart. So DTRT's ships built after the war were become Mahart property. The HAZÁM, TOKAJ, BADACSONY, CSEPEL, TIHANY, BORSOD, SZEGED, DUNAÚJVÁROS, DUNA and BALATON raised Mahart's houseflag on their masts. Developments did not cease to continue with the HAZÁM serie. New alterations were carried out on this river-sea type. The hull was broadened, derricks were replaced with rotating cranes. In 1964 the SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR was delivered to the newly reorganised Mahart with this form. Her sister, the ÚJPEST was handed over to the company a year later. Developments were so succesfull that Czechoslovakia ordered two units of them and these ships sailed up on the Danube as far as Bratislava. At this time the Angyalföld Shipyard had other foreign orders apart from war indemnity ships to the USSR. Of these four units of the SAGA serie which were not handed over because of financial difficulties of the customer remained home and was then offered by the state to Mahart to purchase them. Since building out a deep sea fleet was already in Mahart's plans the offer was accepted. The four ships were put in service as TATA, HEREND, DEBRECEN, HÉVÍZ. These ships visited ports from the North Sea to the Indian Ocean and with their reliable and low cost service gained more reputation to Hungarian sailors and sea shipping. At the beginning of 1966 the last unit of the SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR class, the CEGLÉD, was delivered. With this the wonderful development of Danube-sea shipping came to its end. Mahart chasing ambitious dreams got large deep sea ships built and was planning about ocean shipping. Fifty years after 1918 mariner's education started at college level again. Officers received long sea examns on board of Polish and Czechoslovakian vessels. Thus young generation was lining up to old captains who had already possessed long sea certifications. Hungarian sea shipping was flourishing again. It could solve such a difficult task as it was the homecoming of the SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR by rounding Africa after she had trapped in Sudan during the Middle East war in 1967. This voyage was a proof of how suitable Hungarian sailors were and what good quality vessels Hungarian shipbuilding produced. Both ship and crew did its utmost. In the summer of 1967 a ship left behind from a Finish order was transferred to Mahart and was named SOMOGY. She was slightly different from her previous four sisters. At the same time another so called "Norwegian type" vessel, the HAJDÚSZOBOSZLÓ, became part of Mahart's fleet as a residue from Soviet order. The half world was laughing about her long name which was unpossible to pronounce.

    This was the time when Mahart's first large deep sea ship was taken over. The 6260 tonnes BUDAPEST built in Varna was designated on the South American route. Her sister, the HUNGÁRIA, was delivered in July 1968 and she was to serve the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Great tonnage was at Mahart's disposal of which it could not always make use of and could hardly provide enough crew on its 21 ships. In the summer of 1968 the low capacity BALATON and DUNA which required numerous crews were sold to a Lebanese owner. There were Hungarians remained on board of both ships under foreign flag for a long time. The DUNA burned out at Sulina at the end of 1979 when she was already called FADIA. Her burned out wreck was still there at the end of 1987. The BALATON under the name GHADA was still sailing in 1981/82. Danube-sea going units of the very much centralized company meant competition to its own river fleet. 11 Danube-sea going vessels represented 15.000 tons capacity with 16.000 horse powers and 250 men crew. Same tonnage could be transported up and down the Danube with two towboats in 12 barges with 4.000 horse powers and 30 men crew. Knowledge of this was enough for the decision. From 1969 on river-sea ships ceased to come up to Budapest and worked only on sea. Not for too long! In 1970 four Danube-sea ships were written off and sold. The HAZÁM to Cypriots, the TOKAJ, CSEPEL, and BADACSONY to Austrian owners. It was worth for the new owners operating them! All of the four ships worked mainly with Hungarian crews, the HAZÁM as ODELIA, the BADACSONY as MAGED was still sailing in 1986/87, The CSEPEL was still existing as CARIBI in 1984. However, at the beginning of 1971 three long sea ships were purchased by Mahart. All of them were already twenty years old, and were transferred from German flag and were registered as DUNA, RÁBA and TISZA. These old ships were planned to transport phosphate in the Mediterranean trade. In 1973 it was the turn to sell the TIHANY, BORSOD, SZEGED, DUNAÚJVÁROS. They were purchased by Singapore owners. The BORSOD for example was registered by the Lloyd's as BUILDER even twelve years later. The ex TIHANY wrecked in August, 1979. In 1975 Mahart's fleet consisted of 16 units requiring 600 mariners with substitute. Of course, even at that time this fleet was a lot smaller than fleets of other landlocked countries such as Czechoslovakia, Switzerland or Austria. Prosperous years started with large long sea ships built and acquired from abroad continued with the purchase of ADY and PETŐFI constructed in Cherson in 1972/73. These vessels with their 14.000 tonnes capacity and 9.000 horse powers were the largest crafts of the fleet then.. Unbelieveably great number of personnell needed to handle these giants and it required more officers, too. Officer's courses and later the Maritime College educated and trained cadets in great numbers. During the economic boom in mid 1970s the MAHART in order to get bigger share from transports to the Middle-East founded a joint venture with EURABIA under the name AMAL (Arabic-Hungarian) Shipping Co. The new company brought two ships under Hungarian flag from Sweden at the end of 1975 and beginning of 1976 and named them AMAL EXPRESS & AMAL GLORY. Their service was not long lived, both were sold for scrap soon, the GLORY at Bilbao in the spring of 1980, the EXPRESS at Karachi in the spring of 1982. In 1977 another five vessels got in the stocks of Mahart from Poland, three smaller 3700 tonnes ships, the BODROG, KÖRÖS, SAJÓ and two larger 12.000 tonnes vessels, the CSOKONAI and RADNÓTI. Together with these 23 vessels sailed on world seas under Hungarian flag with 97.000 tonnes capacity in 1977. Such a big fleet was nearly impossible to manage and to provide with cargo from home. Mahart built up vast network of agents and made contracts with forwarding companies. In the summer of 1979 the overused 27 years old m/v TISZA was sold in London for scrap. She did her duty well, many young seamen were trained on her board for long sea shipping. Training was neccessary because developments were not ended yet. The VÖRÖSMARTY built in Cherson became Mahart’s flagship in 1979. With 15.000 tonnes capacity and more than 10.000 horse powers she was the largest ship ever in the Mahart fleet. With this act golden era was slowly ending...

    Nearly five years after MAHART started writing off its old vessels all Hungarian built ships of the company which reached twenty years of age were to be discarded. It started off with the three remaining Danube-sea going ships, which in 1984/85 sailed up to Budapest once more for the last time. In February 1984 the ÚJPEST was sold to AMAL which used it under the name ARRABONA with Hungarian crew. Her homeport was not known since letters were carved out of her stamp. According to her crew she ran under Hungarian flag until May, 1985. Then she was purchased by Greek owners and got scrapped up. The ownership of AMAL became 52,2% Arabic by this time. One of them, Affaki Jusuf was the man who as a co-owner of Mena Shipping Co. had bought earlier two Mahart motorvessels the DUNA and BALATON in 1968. The CEGLÉD changed flag also to Panama in 1984 and sailed under the name AGRIA. Why was it all neccessary? Because Mahart wanted to transfer some of its ships into a new, Jersey Island registered joint venture CENAM and operate them under Hungarian flag. AM came from the 52,2% arabic AMAL joint venture company name and CEN was the abbriviation of the Vienna branch of the Hungarian National Bank. The SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR was taken over by CENAM as ALBA REGIA in 1985 and raised Panama flag as well. Though crew was diminished at least remained Hungarian. Since MAHART wanted these ships to sail under Hungarian flag it had to acquisite arabic majority share from AMAL. As soon as it happened the AGRIA raised Hungarian flag again but ALBA REGIA and ARRABONA were sold to a Greek scrapyard by this time. End of Mahart and rumours about the "one dollar ships" started with these transfers and sales. Questions have not yet been answered neither to mariners nor to the public by any actual leaders of Mahart, even though these series of acts caused yet unmeasurable damage to Hungarian shipping and to the renown of Hungarian merchant marine.

    In the second half of the 1980's many of our vessels were sold. In November of 1985 the DUNA left for Hamina, Finland on her last voyage. As soon as her crew disembarked scrapping commenced. In half a year it was now the turn of the "Norwegians". The HAJDÚSZOBOSZLÓ became MOUNT PARNIS in May 1986, the SOMOGY became MOUNT PILION at the same time. They were followed by the HEREND as MOUNT PARNASSOS and by the TATA as MOUNT PINDOS. Hungarian crews remained on board of them under Greek and Cypriot flags for a long time. Sale price of the four ships were 240.000 dollars. Carellis, the new owner, sold the PARNASSOS so quickly for 130.000 dollars that not even a stamp print left to be kept as a relic. He made 100.000 dollars on the sale of the SOMOGY in half a year so his remaining two vessels cost him only 10.000 dollars. There were Hungarians on board the SOMOGY even when she was with her third owner. They only disembarked when she headed off to the Persian Gulf. The HAJDÚSZOBOSZLÓ still existed not long ago as NADA and the SOMOGY was still listed in 1994/95. The HEREND sailed as HASSAN ATASOY in the mid 90s, the TATA carried the name of BLUE SEA under Honduras flag. At the end of 1986 yet another of Hungarian vessels was deleted from the Hungarian register and that was the last "German" the m/v RÁBA. After she had been sold in Portugal and deleted from the register she took her last voyage to London where she was broken up. With the sale of the RÁBA Mahart’s fleet shrank to 12 units but it still represented 92.000 tons capacity. There were yet a few ships to be written off: two Hungarian built units already past twenty and the two "Bulgarians" were fast approaching to that age, too. An idea came up to convert the DEBRECEN and the HÉVÍZ but it was discarded soon. However, Mahart planned some developments. The company looked for new ships and to make things easier they were directly purchased by CENAM and then chartered back to the mother company, Mahart. By the end of 1986 they could cut a deal and purchased three seven years old vessels from Norway. These ships were named BALATON, KAPOS and SIÓ. In May 1987 the two remaining so called "small Norvegians" at the Mahart fleet were renamed, the HÉVÍZ to ADRIA and the DEBRECEN to TYRRHENIA. Then in October they became CENAM property too, for the usual one dollar sum. Thus CENAM already had five ships, soon the BUDAPEST and HUNGÁRIA got in their fleet, too. It was a strange situation when the mother company had hardly more ships than its subdivision. In October, 1990 the two years earlier taken over motorvessels the BUDAPEST and HUNGÁRIA were sold for good. They were beached at the West-Indian Alang to be broken up there for scrap. Relatively good price, more than one million dollars, was received for them. In April 1992, it was the turn of the HÉVÍZ and DEBRECEN or rather the ADRIA and TYRRHENIA as they were called at that time. After sale their new name became CAPTAIN JALIL és CAPTAIN BAJAZID under Liberian flag. With this the CENAM fleet shrank again, they had got only three vessels left. Eventually, the three remaining CENAM ships were sold, too. Mahart’s fleet was contionously shrinking, too. In May 1993 the ADY was sold in Singapore. The new owner transferred her as XIN TONG to St. Vincent flag. Next month it was the PETŐFI which became HAI CHENG in Singapore. With this Mahart's fleet diminished to six vessels but counting the three freighters of its branch company still represented 66.000 tons. Unfortunatelly, these nine ships could only give job to 300 seamen while another 300 had to leave the company. A three years period came when directors were replaced and the supervisory board changed. Mahart Seatrade Ltd. was established which took over the ships from Mahart to operate and manage them. This attempt helped nothing.

    In July, 1986 some hope flashed up when a very similiar vessel to RABROS was delivered to the Ltd. on account of Russian state dept towards Hungary. The new ship was named to PANNON RIVER. In July of 1996 the CSOKONAI was sold for scrapping in Hamburg then in August it was the RADNÓTI to be sold. She was renamed INDIAN TIGER and sailed serveing Hungarian interests under Maltese flag with Hungarian crew, of course. In September of the same year the first of the small Polish built vessels was to be sold, too. Due to a minor accident the BODROG was sold for the price of a medium size car on the Carib Sea. Perhaps, travelling expenses of the crew cost more for the company. In October another ship got rid of the Hungarian flag although she allegedly remained in Mahart’s property. The PANNON RIVER was transferred to Maltese colours naturally with Hungarian crew. The PANNON SEA which was just taken over at that time did not even raised the Hungarian flag as her funnel ribbon was painted over from Mahart to PS before taking over. The Hungarian Shipping Journal was still rejoycing in headline about the delivery, but that was followed by long sad silence. She got under Maltese flag as well. Statement of one of the representatives of the financial government of that time seemed to be coming true "We must sail but not neccessarily under Hungarian flag". From this point it is only a small step to the conclusion that Hungarian crews are not neccessary either. Privatization attempts of the State Bureau failed one after another and the company's possesion was continuosly used up. BODROG's sisters the KÖRÖS and the SAJÓ were sold, too. They were purchased by entrepreneurs registered in Panama and Liberia. SAJÓ got the name ARES. After this came the three remaining CENAM ships, the SIÓ and the KAPOS went back to Norwegian ownership and next year the BALATON was renamed to CANMO by the Norwegian owner. Another change of director took place at the company. There was hardly anything to be sold, to be consumed. In 2000 it was the turn of the two PANNONs which were renamed to ILEKSA and IRASA and their owner ran them under Maltese flags. The third vessel, the PANNON SKY was renamed to PLANET by her new German owner. The last of the Mohicans was the VÖRÖSMARTY. Hungarian mariners were not MAHART employees any more by that time but they contracted to given journeys. The couple of dozens that left. But what happened to many a hundred more? They are seeking their fortune scattered all over the world and grieving under foreign flags about the past glory of Hungarian sea shipping. This situation is more like after the Trianon Truce in WWI. And soon came the third Trianon of Hungarian sea shipping. On 16. October, 2000 the Hungarian flag was lowered from the mast of the VÖRÖSMARTY at Rotterdam. It is not difficult to imagine what captain Peter Szabó master of the ship and his crew felt at that moment. She was renamed to YONG KONG and raised the Cambodia flag. The new owner, one of the Dutch branch company of NEPA, commissioned Ukrainian crew to sail her for five more months. Then in March of the same year the ex VÖRÖSMARTY was beached to be srapped up at Alang. So the fate of the last Hungarian vessel came to its end eventually. PANNON STAR and PANNON SUN currently being constructed in Astrakhan are waiting to be bought by someone. The current financial, commercial government do not think that the Hungarian economy, the Hungarian Nation needs sea-going vessels and seamen. No need for the political, cultural mission which had been carried out by Hungarian sea ships and seafarers in service of their country at the ports of the world for more than hundred years.

    József Horvát: What happens to you Hungarian sea navigation? Aqua Magazin, vol. 24-25-26-27., 2001.

    (Eventually, PANNON STAR and PANNON SUN built in Astrakhan on account of Russian state dept towards Hungary were operated by Mahart and were sailing under Hungarian flag from their delivery to the end of 2004. Then they were transferred to Bahama flag and renamed to CEC ENTERPRISE and CEC ENDEVOUR. Hungarian flag dissapeared from world seas since.)
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    2004

    2004