Brass plaque commemorating the naming of TRANZTAS TRADER mounted on a wooden base

Date1989

Object number00046593

NamePlaque

MediumFabric

DimensionsOverall: 1080 x 1820 x 20 mm

ClassificationsVisual communication

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Australian National Line

Terms

HistoryThe Australian National Line (ANL) was formed on 1/10/1956 as the Australian Coastal Commission with the passing of the Australian Coastal Shipping Commission Act. The organisation took over forty odd ships previously operated by the Australian Shipping Board which had been formed in 1946 by the Australian Federal Government. The Australian Shipping Commission replaced the Australian Coastal Shipping Commission in 1974. Like the Australian Coastal Shipping Commission, the Australian Shipping Commission traded under the name Australian National Line. In October 1989, the Australian Shipping Commission ceased to exist and a wholly owned company was created, Australian National Line (ANL) Limited. Apart from its operation of ferry services to Tasmania between 1959 and 1985, ANL concentrated solely on bulk freight and cargo. In the late 1990s ANL changed its name to Australian River Company Limited and in 1998 and 1999 the Australian Government sold off separate parts of its operations. The French company CMA CGM, the world's third largest shipping operator, bought the Liner Division in 1999, which now operates as the Australian arm of CMA CGM, named ANL Container Line Pty Limited. Tasmanian passenger and cargo service ANL entered into the ferry business in 1959, when Tasmanian Steamers announced that they were withdrawing from the Melbourne Tasmania run.With no replacement in sight, the Federal Government decided that the Australian National Line should be subsidised to take over. An order was placed at the New South Wales State Dockyard at Newcastle for a new ship, the Princess of Tasmania, which entered the Melbourne-Devonport service on 23 September 1959. It was the first roll-on / roll-off ferry in the southern hemisphere and the largest. With the success of the new ship and route, ANL ordered a new cargo-only ship, to be named Bass Trader. ANL next re-established a regular passenger service from Sydney to Tasmania. It ordered a new ship Empress of Australia, which was built at Cockatoo Dockyard and entered service from Sydney to Hobart, Bell Bay and Burnie in 1965. With the the need for more capacity on the Melbourne route, ANL again ordered a new ship to be built at NSW State Dockyard . The Australian Trader entered service on a rotation between Bell Bay, Devonport and Burnie in 1969. In 1972 ANL sold the Princess of Tasmania, and replaced it on the Melbourne-Devonport run with the Empress of Australia. In 1976 ANL announced that the Australian Trader would be withdrawn from service and replaced by a new ship, Bass Trader. On its final run to Bell Bay the crew of the Australian Trader went on strike and tied up the ship for two months, before giving in . The ship was sold to the RAN as a training ship. In 1985 ANL withdrew from the ferry trade, and sold the Empress of Australia to the Tasmanian government. ANL was infamously involved in the Tasman Bridge disaster in Hobart in 1975, as the owner-operator of the Lake Illawarra.