Az Osztrák–Magyar Lloyd története
The History of the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd

Summary/Abstract: The Austrian Lloyd of Trieste was the first sea transport steamship company in the so called Danubian Monarchy of the Habsburgs. The enterprise was founded in 1832 by seven local insurance companies, primarily to collect and assess information and news from the Eastern part of the Mediterranean. The Lloyd was inspired by the examples of the British and French societies. Ahead of many other shipping companies, the Lloyd of Trieste cre-ated a steam navigation department in 1836. The Austrian Lloyd became a dominant ship-ping enterprise primarily in the Mediterranean basin, but after the opening of the Suez Ca-nal it reached out to the Far Eastern markets as well. In 1871, barely four years after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, the Hungarian government started investing in the com-pany. However, the Hungarian navigation industry, still in the early stages of development, did not benefit much from the new venture that operated under the name Austro-Hungar-ian Lloyd from 1871 onwards. Because, despite the Hungarian financial support, the com-pany did not care much about the commercial and market needs of the Hungarians. The primary markets for Hungarian agriculture were in Western Europe, while the Lloyd was interested in trade with the Middle East and the Far East. From the 1870s, Hungary invested heavily in the modernization of the port of Fiume, which had been attached to Hungary again in 1868. The expensive port development pro-ject together with other infrastructural investments were seen unnecessary by many in the Hungarian intelligentsia as, despite of all these, the independent Hungarian sea navigation industry showed no signs of progress. Many argued against supporting an Austrian com-pany that did not take into account the needs of the Hungarians. (For example, it hap-pened that the Lloyd’s steamers shipped cheap Russian grain to the markets of the Monar-chy, creating competition for the Hungarian Agriculture.) Moreover, the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd was facing growing competition, mainly from the neighboring and young Kingdom of Italy and its fleet. It was in 1891 when the Hungarian government finally decided to can-cel the contract and not to support the Lloyd any further. The company changed its name back to Austrian Lloyd, while the Hungarian government started financing independent Hungarian sea navigation. So 1891 was not only a watershed for the Lloyd, but it also marks a new era in the history of Hungarian sea trade, which was soon transformed from an institution existing only on paper into a truly functioning entity with the financial sup-port of the government. The Lloyd continued to expand towards the Orient, while the new Hungarian Adria Company built a network of agencies in and launched its lines to Western European ports.

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