Csányi Marietta et al. (szerk.): Tisicum - A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve 25. (Szolnok, 2016)

Történeti tanulmányok - Kasza Csaba: What happened to the hungarian merchant shipping?

TISICUM XXV. - TÖRTÉNETI TANULMÁNYOK

reason, the shipbuilding prospered, therefore the MAHART got new vessels, too. It was also fortunate that the economy always wanted convertible currency very badly. Since shipping is fundamentally international, thus the MAHART could produce foreign exchange on relatively good rate. From 1965 to 1979, vast extension was in progress in the maritime navigation. During the 14 years, the company got 17 new and 3 secondhand general cargo32 ships built in the Soviet Union, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany and Hungary, total volume of 114.000 DWT.33 The „golden age” was short-lived, from 1977 to 1983, when the MAHART had 21 sea-going ships in 100.000 DWT.34 In 1983, the problems commenced, the company started to sell the older vessels,35 much under the market price, or only for scrap iron, but the buyer used even for years or resold them real price at once. The Yugoslav war broke out at the end of the decade and it collapsed the communist regime in our country causing serious problems for the company. The next decade, from 1990 to 16 October 2000, when the flagship of the company, the M/S „VÖRÖSMARTY” was

operated as a holding, inside it the different activities were being done by affilated firms and limited-liability companies. In 1993 commenced the privatization of the company by the State Privatization Agency. The privatization was not a success story. Frankly speaking, it appeared more than once that it was only passing the assets into insider hands at low price. With the privatization the company began to run through the asset. In 1995 the MAHART still had 58 passenger, 54 river and 6 ocean-going ships, 144 cargo and 9 tank barges. Firstly, by 2000 all the sea-going vessels were sold for 16.1 millions USD.36 In 2003 the Csepel Freeport was converted into stock corporation. In 2004 the river shiping was privatized by DDSG. In 2008 the passenger shipping was privatized.

The swan-song

„He didn’t say that. He read what was given to him in a speech.”

(Richard Darman)37

sold, was the period of „slow dead”. First the South-Slav crisis closed the Duna for traffic on the lower reach, which caused huge losses for the river shipping, then the Hungarian shipbuilding industry ceased to exist. The State did not support the shipping anymore, the tradicional foreign- trade bussiness relations were put out of order. From 1990 the MAHART

32 General cargo ship means not specialised ship e.g.container, tanker.

33 Dead-weight-ton (DWT) means the mass that a ship can carry (cargo+fuel+freshwater+consumables).

34 In the same time Austria has 200.000, Czechoslovakia 300.000, Swiss

400.000 DWT.

35 The life-span of a sea-going vessel is about 20 years.

In 2002 a miracle happened. The MAHART got two new ocean-going vessels in return for public debt of Russia. There was again Hungarian flag at the world oceans. The operation of the vessels was profitable, but the minister of economy of that time ordered to sell the ships, saying „the shipping is the toy of a few people” (!). - The flag was hoisted down - forever -1 was on that ship too.38

My next employment was on a Swiss vessel, as we know, borders of Switzerland are awashed by nine seas and three oceans. In 2016 Swit36 16.1 million USD was the price of 4 km highway in 2000.

37 Richard Darman, staffmember of president George Bush.

38 The author is master mariner, worked for MAHART for 25 years.

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