A. C. de Freitas & Co.

A. C. de Freitas & Co. was, at the end of the 19th century, one of the largest privately owned trading and shipping companies in Hamburg.

Its failure to list as a public company was the main reason for its downfall a decade later.

[1] From its beginnings with sailing ships that carried goods on their own account, the company developed into a large enterprise with extensive interests in Great Britain, South America and the Mediterranean.

[1]: 47  In 1884, a regular scheduled service began into the Adriatic Sea and in 1892 there was a growing fleet of steamers to southern Brazil and Argentina.

[1]: 69 & 84 [2] In 1900, Albert Ballin bought the 14 steamships employed in the South American trade for the Hamburg America Line.