Cosulich Line


The Cosulich Line, formally the Cosulich Societa Triestina di Navigazione, is a steamship line that was based in Trieste, Italy. The company had been founded in 1903 as Unione Austriaca di Navigazione, more commonly called the Austro-American or Austro-Americana Line, when Trieste was under the rule of Austria-Hungary.

History

In 1857 Captain Antonio F. Cosulich launched the family business with the 500-tonne ship Fides built in Cherso, Greece.
Unione Austriaca di Navigazione was founded in Trieste in 1903 by Fratelli Cosulich. The Cosulich family originated from the island of Lussino. Operating as the Austro-American Line, ships of the company carried passengers from Trieste to Messina, Naples, Palermo, and New York. Service to South American ports and New Orleans began in 1907. Cosulich made arrangements with the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company for service from Trieste to Canada which proved to be uneconomical and was cancelled after six voyages. At the outbreak of World War I, passenger services ceased.
After the Armistice, Trieste came under the rule of Italy. Reorganized as an Italian company under the name Cosulich Societa Triestina di Navigazione, or Cosulich STN, the line, now sailing under the Cosulich Line name, resumed service from Mediterranean ports to New York and South America. In 1932, the Cosulich Line and fellow Italian passenger companies Lloyd Sabaudo and Navigazione Generale Italiana were merged into the state-owned Italia Flotte Riunite, or ITALIA, though Cosulich was able to maintain its own management from Trieste. When ITALIA was liquidated in 1937, Cosulich was absorbed into the replacement Italia Societa Anonima di Navigazione, or Italian Line.
The company exists today as the Fratelli Cosulich Group, still a shipowner and based in Trieste.