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VIII - Shipping[1]

"The port is one of the best in the Indies, in size and convenience, being so fordable that boats are able to dock right next to the houses, discharging their passengers on planks right at their doorsteps. The island is dry, with little fruit and small in size, but the city is quite rich because of its constant deals, commerce and earnings, and the contraband that the Spaniards practice out of necessity."[2]

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the excellent Dutch merchant marine helped consolidate the Netherlands as a world power and brought the East and West India Companies to the far reaches of the globe. Once the West India Company (WIC) chose Curaçao as its regional base its mighty fleet guaranteed the island's prominence as a trade center. Soon, however, the island's independent Jewish merchants rose to dominate all aspects of the local shipping industry. As long as the island was a booming trade center, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the shipping sector also thrived. The early centuries of trade prosperity were a golden age for shipping, with magnificent fleets regularly setting sail from Curaçao bound for Europe. By 1743 there were 700 registered calls at the port of Willemstad.[4]

With excellent regular connections within the region and to Europe, Curaçao did a brisk business not just in the transhipment of goods, but also of passengers. Venezuelans who wanted to travel from one part of their country to another often found it far more comfortable to make the journey by sea via Curaçao rather than to brave the primitive dirt roads of the interior. Once in Willemstad they would often spend a few days at a small inn, taking advantage of the opportunity to purchase European goods that were either not available back home or else subject to high import duties. Similarly, Venezuelan and Colombian travelers often arrived on the island to await transport to Europe on one of the many trans-Atlantic liners that regularly called. Since sailing schedules were imprecise, passengers often waited days and even weeks in port. These visitors could be considered to be the island's first tourists (see Chapter 11). This transit travel continued well into the twentieth century.

Although St. Anna Bay was an excellent natural deep water harbor, swift currents and strong prevailing trade winds made it tricky for ships to enter its narrow mouth. In the eighteenth century port authorities developed a standard routine to deal with this problem; after a ship was sighted by a lookout from one of the hills above the bay launches were sent to tow it to the mouth of the harbor; the crew tossed the ends of strong ropes to slaves on shore, who pulled it to the docks. Even today many ships are escorted into the channel.

The 1800s were the Golden Age of sailing as magnificent, fully rigged clippers crisscrossed the world's oceans. Streamlined for greater speed than the early schooners and barques, and hoisting an impressive number of enormous canvas sails, the first clippers had iron frames; later the entire body was made of iron. By late century all new sailing ships were made of steel, which, being much lighter, further upped their speed and agility. Even so, a sailing voyage from Curaçao to the Netherlands was a risky and unpredictable venture; it could take one to two months or even more and was completely at the mercy of unknown weather on the high seas. The 1800s were also the beginning of the Age of Steam. It began slowly at first, with just a few intrepid vessels venturing out onto the high seas, and posing little threat to sailing. Throughout most of the century sailing and steam coexisted relatively peacefully, each with its own well defined market segments. By the turn of the century, however, the major international steamship lines had come to dominate the seas.

Whenever trade declined it had a negative impact on local shipping. This happened frequently throughout the nineteenth century, beginning in 1800 when the British limited the island's trade to other British possessions. Throughout the first half of the 1800s "shipping between the Netherlands and Curaçao was anything but lively." During some years only one or two Dutch ships arrived. By mid century the sector revived a bit, and about a dozen ships a year were sailing to the Netherlands, although many were "a private venture by their captains."[5] As the century progressed Curaçao depended more on the United States for supplies and shipping ties were expanded northwards. The island's largest shipping company, Jesurun & Co, had over 100 ships at sea in the mid 1800s, mostly schooners but also some steamers.

At the turn of the century, although the economy was sluggish, the harbor was vibrant. The docks provided much needed work for the lower classes, stimulating further migration to Willemstad from the countryside. Sometimes the backbreaking work of loading and unloading goods on the wharves was the only regular work to be had. By 1912 Willemstad was the seventh largest port in the Caribbean.[8] The shipping sector was also the site of Curaçao's first modern industrial labor disputes: dock workers went on strike in 1913 and again 1922 to protest wage cuts and formed one of the island's first modern labor unions.[9] Longshoremen could earn a simple living with just two to three days of intense work a week and were often not interested in more regular work; this sometimes delayed ships in port.

During World War One virtually all transport between Holland and Curaçao temporarily ceased and local shipping suffered accordingly. Curaçao's wharfs, however, profited from the stagnation of steam and the temporary revival of sailing. Many goods that were brought from Venezuela and Colombia could not be transshipped immediately and sat waiting on the docks; five new sheds were built at the wharves to hold these transit goods.

Shipping increased dramatically following the war, primarily due to the oil industry. The island's already excellent shipping connections and port infrastructure were one factor which attracted Shell; Curaçao's existing shipping industry meant a ready market for the refinery's principle product: fuel oil. In 1922 a full 50% of the steamers that entered the harbor were destined for the refinery; by 1929 tankers made up 80% of the island's total shipping transport.[10] The overall prosperity brought by the refinery also impacted the shipping industry; commercial non-tanker shipping increased 100% between 1922 and 1929.[11] The dramatic increase in local spending power brought by Shell led to a surge in trade and, therefore, shipping, as foodstuffs and luxury items such as automobiles were imported in greater numbers. Shell also contributed to the decline of the island's traditional shipping magnates (which had already begun with the arrival of steam shipping), establishing its own enterprise, the Curaçao Shipping Company (CSM), to deal with all refinery-related shipping. CSM soon became a major island employer.

Curaçao was also well situated to be a favored port of call for a new type of twentieth century ocean travel, luxury cruising. After the first cruise ship called in 1901 (see Chapter 11) the sector grew quickly. Cruising increased substantially during the 1930s as many out of work cargo ships took to transporting passengers; by the 1950s the island had become one of the Caribbean's most popular cruise destinations. Cruise ships called at Curaçao in part due to the cheap bunkering fuel (see below). The increasing number of passengers that arrived on these ships, in turn, stimulated the local trade sector.

By 1938, 7169 steamers chugged into St. Anna Bay; in comparison that same year New York received 8669 ships and Amsterdam just 3464.[12] Depending on whether it was measured in the number of ships or total tonnage, Curaçao was then one of the seven or eight largest ports in the world, no small accomplishment for a small desert island.[13] During World War Two, sailing, like so many of the island's other traditional industries that were dying out, had one last hurrah. The German submarines which prowled the waters around Curaçao spared sailing ships, many of which flew Venezuelan flags. The continued heavy trade with Venezuela during the war also favored sail. By the beginning of the 1950s, however, trade with even the smallest Venezuelan ports had been taken over by motorized vessels. Shipping in general suffered heavily during the war due to the total disruption of the trans-Atlantic route.

Shipping grew rapidly in the post war years; already by 1947 steamers had restored Curaçao's shipping to pre war levels. The total number of ships that visited the island reached a new peak, 8462 calls, in 1952.[14] Major international steamer lines such as Grace Line, Alcoa Line, Royal Mail Line, CGT and HAPAG resumed their regular visits to the island. By 1960, however, international shipping routes had shifted and Curaçao was no longer such a major regional port. The sector saw another turnaround after the 1970s, however, with the introduction of containers, when the island once again had an opportunity to become a regional shipping hub.

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Curaçao Chamber of Commerce & Industry