Last modified: 2026-10-10 by rob raeside
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![[CSPL houseflag]](../images/c/cz~cspl.gif)
image by Ivan Sache, 9 Apr 2006
A flag in the national colours is shown on the website of this Czech inland shipping company, situated in Děčín: horizontally divided white over red, a five-pointed blue star in the centre. (It is certainly longer, as shown on that same page.)
A message on above site warns that due to floods there will be no traffic on the Elbe (Labe) River between Strekov and Magdeburg, Germany - sometimes there is no calm sailing on inland waters, too.
On the net, the company name 'Československá Plavba Labská a.s' is translated as Czechoslovak Elbe Shipping Co. There have been adversities such as insufficient water levels in summer leading to reduced transport and financial difficulties ending in bankruptcy.
The company now seems to be part of the Argo Group, a logistics conglomerate.
As an interesting aside, this snippet from this
webpage:
After WWI, Czechoslovakia was handed over a small part of the port
of Hamburg for the duration of 99 years, ensuring access to the high seas;
this plot of land was used by ČSPL from 1929 on for mooring barges, warehouses,
depots, etc.
Jan Mertens, 4 Apr 2006
![[CSPL pennant]](../images/c/cz~csplp.gif)
image by Jarig Bakker, 17 Apr 2007
Yesterday I saw a burgee: white over red, with a blue 5-pointed star
towards the hoist, in the Amsterdam Houthaven. Jan Mertens identified
it as the penant of 'Československá Plavba Labská a.s' or Czechoslovak
Elbe Shipping Co.
Jarig Bakker, 17 Apr 2007
![[ČSPL pennant variant]](../images/c/cz~csplr.gif)
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 June 2007
ČSPL - It is a white over red pennant with a blue 5-point star on the
dividing line. The star is pointing to the hoist.
The company is located in Děčín (Czech republic). A crewman of one
of its ships told me, the translation of the name would be "Czech
shipping on river Elbe". The abbreviation remained however ČSPL. I asked
him, whether the "S" stood for "Slovakian", but he assured, that the company
nowadays had to do nothing with Slovakia.
I spotted this flag on 16 April 2007 in at Billwerder Bucht (the cheapest
mooring place for inlandshipping in Hamburg).
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 June 2007
![[Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping Ltd]](../images/c/cz~cos.gif)
image by Miles Li, 8 November 2021
Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping (Československá námořní plavba) was founded in 1959;
privatised in 1992; renamed Czech Ocean Shipping (Česká námořní plavba) in 1994;
its fleet was sold off in 1998. Its home port was Moldauhafen in Hamburg, leased
by Germany to Czechoslovakia (and now to Czechia) since 1929, under the terms of
the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.
Its house flag was blue, with a white disc
bearing a red five-pointed star.
Miles Li, 8 November 2021
![[Czech Shipping Cy]](../images/c/cz~csc.gif)
image by Jorge Candeias, 9 Feb 1999
Czech Shipping Company - A blue flag with a narrow vertical band
near the hoist in white and a white disc centered in the remaining area
with a red star within. I admit that I "improved" this flag a little, since
in the original file, the disc was an oval and the star had it's proportions
non-standard as a result. I guessed this was an error.
Jorge Candeias, 9 Feb 1999
This version with the blue and white stripes at the hoist has only existed as a
logo of COS after its privatisation; the blue stripe possibly represents a flag
pole.
Miles Li, 8 November 2021
![[Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping Ltd]](../images/x/xc~cos.gif)
image by Jens Pattke, 3 February 2002
I found some house flags of former socialist countries in a lexicon
on navigation and sea traffic: COS - Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping Ltd. Praha
Source: SCHARNOW, Ullrich: "transpress Lexikon Seefahrt"; transpress
VEB Verkag fÜr Verkehrswesen; Berlin (East); 1988; 5.edition.
Jens Pattke, 3 February 2002
This yellow-blue-yellow tricolour version was the funnel colours of COS; I
have not seen that as an actual flag.
Miles Li, 8 November 2021
![[VZK houseflag]](../images/c/cz~vzk.gif)
image by Eugene Ipavec, 16 Apr 2008
'Vodní zasilatelství Kedršt' (VZK) is a tourist shipping company
active in Prague, Czech Republic.
See following websites (the first
is official, the second shows
the house flag also found on firmy.cz .
Aquamare offers clickable photos of four vessels 'Carina', 'Renata',
'Mili', and 'Vira'.
Houseflag: horizontally divided white over blue, a yellow five-pointed star in the centre.
As far as I understand VZK was founded in 1990, offers various tours on the Vltava (aka Moldau) River plus supplementary haulage using a tug and a pontoon. But for 'Carina' the official vessel list is different from that offered by the Aquamare site - obsolete, no doubt.
VZK roughly translates as "Shipping Transport Kedršt", the last element being a family name.
The 'fotogalerie' (left menu) shows distinguished visitors, among them
J. Depp and P. Muk.
Disappointingly, the house flag remains all too discreet on the official
photos; for this article - or its ghost - we have to turn to 'ceník'
(left menu: rates).
Jan Mertens, 15 Apr 2008