The Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie, or DOAL, was a shipping company founded in 1890 in response to the British dominated market of the far east. You see, the then German Empire had colonies in East Africa, and the routes there were controlled by the British, so this company was formed to compete with them.

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For a time, they did stop at Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) and Beira, in Portuguese East Africa, or Portuguese Mozambique, with contract with the Portuguese Government to transport people from Mainland Portugal to that colony, but with the introduction of the Africa and Lusitania of ENN, future CNN, and the establishment of new routes to Mozambique by the Portuguese company made the Government cancel that contract with DOAL. They did sell the 1896 vessel Herzog to ENN, which became Beira in 1911, after the loss of Lisboa in 1910.

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By the start of the first Great War, DOAL had 22 ships, a total of 110,000 GRT. Though during the war most of their ships would be lost. 3 ships were in Portuguese docks, and when Portugal entered the war, they seized those ships, which were: Admiral which became the Lourenço Marques; Kommodore which became the Mormugão and the Kronprinz which became the Quelimane.

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After the war, the company did try to regain strength, having new ships, but they could not, and by 1934, the company was defunct and after the war their remaining ships were lost.