^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Gazocean (Shipping company, France)

House flag of Gazocean - Image by Eugene Ipavec, 2 April 2012

Presentation of Gazocean
House flag of Gazocean
Messigaz

See also:

Presentation of Gazocean

Gazocean (website), a joint venture of GDF-Suez and NYK based in Marseilles, is the French leader in transportation of liquefied natural gas. The company operates, under the French flag, the four gas carriers Tellier (built in 1973; capacity, 40,000 m³; length, 197 m), GDF Suez Global Energy (built in 2006; capacity, 74,000 m³; length, 220 m), Provalys (built in 2006; capacity, 153,500 m³; length, 290 m), and Gaselys (built in 2007; capacity, 153,500 m³; length, 290 m).
Gazocean is also involved in ship handling, shipyard supervision, verification and training.

Founded in 1957 by René Boudet, Gazoceaan set up in 1968 the Gazocean Armement shipping company. In 1991, Gaz de France (the French national gas company) acquired 25% of the Gazocean Armement holdings, increased to 50% in 1992, via its subsidiary company Messigaz. The company was renamed Gazocean in 2003 and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gaz de France in 2004. In June 2004, however, the Japanese company NYK acquired 20 % of the Gazocean holdings; the Gaz de France holdings were shared between the GDF International (49.5%) and Messigaz (30.5%) subsidiaries. Gaz de France merged in 2008 with Suez to form GDF Suez.

Ivan Sache,20 September 2010

House flag of Gazocean

The houseflag of Gazocean, as shown by Josef Nuesse, is dark blue with a white fish outlined in black and spitting fire.
The emblem is, according to Loughran (1979), a dolphin and he shows the detail from an official drawing prepared in 1970 and I assume that this dates the flag.

Ivan Sache & Neale Rosanoski, 8 July 2004

Messigaz

House flag of Messigaz, two versions - Images by Ivan Sache, 20 September 2010

Messigaz was originally a joint venture of Messageries Maritimes (73%), Gaz de France (15%) and Gazocean (12%). In 1993, CGM, successor of Messageries Maritimes, sold its holdings to Gaz de France and the two gas carriers operated by Messigaz, including the Tellier (photo), were chartered to Gazocean.

The original house flag of Messigaz is white with a red triangle at each corner of the flag and a blue "M" in the middle, modelled on the Messageries Maritimes house flag. In 2009, the Tellier (photo) still used the flag as its funnel marking.
Jean Randier (Histoire de la marine marchande française) shows a drawing of the house flag of Messigaz as black with a blue "M" in the middle.

Dominique Cureau & Ivan Sache, 3 October 2010