It is one of the unknown Portuguese companies, one that people don’t know that hadn’t exist, but most of their former fleet became part of the three main Portuguese companies: EIN, CCN and CNN.

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Formed in February 1916, the Transportes Marítimos do Estado, or TME, was created in a desperate time. As you all know, it has been 2 years since World War 1 or The Great War started in Europe and had spread to Asia and Africa, but Portugal had sitting out this conflict for two reasons: it was not a great power and Great Britain did not want their entry to the war, but that all changed in 1916. It is still months before Britain loses HMHS Britannic, but it had suffered from the U-Boots, and Portugal, been a neutral country, allowed German and Austrian ships to dock in its ports in Mainland Portugal and in its African colonies. In January 1916, there were 72 ships, 70 German and 2 Austrian ships docked in Portugal. It was then Britain asked Portugal, their oldest ally (530 years old by 1916) to apprehend all German and Austrian ships in Portuguese ports. Around 250.000 GRT were capture on February 23rd, 1916. 65% of the 72 ships were given to Britain and the rest of 35% stayed in Portugal, in total of 13 ships. It was then formed TME and on March 9th, 1916, the German Empire declared war of Portugal.

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All 13 ships were given new names and a new paint scheme, with black and white funnels between 1916 and 1917 and then replaced the black paint with yellow. The flag was painted on the funnels and the hull remained black from 1916 to 1925. The two largest were Tráz-os-Montes (ex-Bulow) and Porto (ex-Prinz Heinrich), both from Norddeutscher Lloyd. They served in the war and continue to provide passenger service during and after the war. After the war, been a Statal Company, many of its ships were sold off to CNN (ENN before 1918) and EIN, and including a new company, known as CCN, founded in 1922. But by that time, the company was in troubled, and seen as a glance of what would happen in 1985, the company ceased to exist in 1925, just after 9 years of been founded.