Constraints and possibilities: Scandinavian shipping companies and transmigration, 1898–1914

Abstract

In the early twentieth century, transatlantic migration peaked. Transmigrants, i.e. migrants who travelled through third countries on the way to their destination, comprised more than half of all emigrants departing from German, Belgian, Dutch and British ports which together were the most important. The most important countries of origin were Russia and Austria-Hungary, in addition to Italy. Because of this, shipping companies had to deal with networks and manage a transport system extending far beyond their traditional sphere of economic interest. In the process, the companies became ever more dependent on influencing state actors in Europe as well as in North America to keep their long-established business structures going. In many ways, the transatlantic passenger business between the 1890s and 1914 should therefore be viewed more as a transmigrant business rather than an emigrant business, which is the most common understanding of this massive human movement. The article focuses on the transmigration phenomenon from the point of view of three very different shipping companies/initiatives in Norway, Sweden and Denmark respectively. Norway and Sweden had among the highest rates of transatlantic migration, and Norway had the third largest merchant fleet in the word by the turn of the twentieth century. Yet only Denmark provided a direct transatlantic service throughout the most important period for transatlantic migration. What possibilities were there for these three countries to engage in the transatlantic passenger business and what constrained their efforts? By concentrating on the transmigration phenomenon and three countries with differing points of departure, the article provides a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and dynamics involved in shaping the transatlantic passenger business, of how the business worked, and of how the companies could influence the flow and pattern of migratory movements between Europe and North America.