The second most famous Portuguese Shipping Company, the Companhia Nacional de Navegação (in English National Navigation Company) was founded in 1881 by the Portuguese Government to make connections between Lisbon and Angola, at the time was a Portuguese Colony. It was founded as the Empresa Nacional de Navegação a Vapor para a África Portuguesa, or ENN.

            In 1918 the company changed its name to CNN but still had a monopoly on the African Trade. This monopoly was lost in 1922 with the introduction of Companhia Colonial de Navegação, CCN. Still, while CCN ships were put into service in carrying troops during the Portuguese Colonial War (1961 – 1974) CNN ships made money carrying passengers to or from the colonies and in cruises in the Mediterranean.

 

In 1961 the company received the famous “N.T. Principe Perfeito”, an almost sistership to CCN’s “N.T. Infante Dom Henrique” which server with the company for many long and happy years. In 1972, CNN absorbed the Sociedade Geral de Indústria Comércio e Transportes (SGCIT), which was part of Companhia União Fabril (CUF).

        In February 1974, the two other rivals, CCN and Empresa Insulana de Navegação (EIN) were merged by Caetano’s Estado Novo Government (1968 – 1974) to form the Companhia Portuguesa de Transportes Marítimos (CPTM), but it did not include CNN. It continued to operate, but after many attempts of restructuring the company, simultaneously with CPTM were extinct in 1985, and CNN was finally liquidated in 2001.