The most famous Portuguese Shipping Company, the Companhia Colonial de Navegação (in English Colonial Navigation Company) was founded in 1922, in Angola, then a Portuguese Colony, to provoke rivalry with the Companhia Nacional de Navegação (CNN), which had lost the monopoly of the routes with the Portuguese African Colonies.

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CCN is best known for been in various events: the ship Serpa Pinto was stopped and boarded in 1944 by the German Submarine U-541 and almost sink her, but the German High Command order not to sink her. Another event was in 1961, in which is best known as the Santa Maria Highjack, in which rebels from Portugal and Spain highjack the ship against the dictatorships of Salazar and Franco and re-baptize as the Santa Liberdade. Months later, the Portuguese Colonial War (1961 – 1974) started in Angola and many ships took soldiers to the front lines. The company was best known for famous ships like Santa Maria, Vera Cruz, Infante Dom Henrique, Uíge, Pátria, and so on.

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The company merged with Empresa Insulina de Navegação (EIN) to form Companhia Portuguesa de Transportes Marítimos (CPTM) in February 1974, which ceased operations in 1985, alongside CNN. Infante was the last ship to be retired, serving up until 2003.