Mediterranean Shipping and Trading Company

Biography

The Mediterranean Shipping and Trading Company, Ltd., was founded on November 12, 1933 in Tel-Aviv, and was in operation until 1957 or later.  The company shipped the major export crop of the period, oranges, to Greece, Egypt, and other Middle Eastern countries.  Other types of materials shipped by them include cocoa beans, rubber goods, and cigarettes.  Until 1942, the annual meetings were held at the "Registered Office of the Company, Citrus House, Tel-Aviv".  In 1943 the company moved to 6, Beth Hashoeva Lane, also in Tel-Aviv. 

Throughout World War II the shipping of goods became increasingly difficult due to stricter rules on importing and exporting.  This difficulty was compounded by the creation of the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation (U.K.C.C.), an entity of the British government, essentially tasked with stopping Germany from buying essential commodities on the open market by buying them first.  The U.K.C.C. was founded in 1940, and by 1942 was in direct competition with shipping agencies in Turkey and the Middle East.  Any goods deemed of use to Germany's war effort, which included cocoa beans and rubber goods, were purchased by the U.K.C.C.  Since the U.K.C.C. purchased and transported goods on its own, it forced other shipping agencies to focus on shipping potentially less lucrative goods to places other than the U.K.  This had a negative impact on the Mediterranean Shipping and Trading Company, starting in 1943 and continuing through 1947.

Found in 1 Collection or Record: