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Rivers Vltava (Moldau) and Labe (Elbe), Czechoslovakia (Bohemia)
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Prague Shipping Company (PPS) 
The company was established in 1865 with prominent Prague businessman, personality and city mayor (Primator) Frantisek Dittrich the driving force and leading company director. It concentrated on services from Prague up the Vltava to Stechovice. By 1895, the fleet consisted of eight paddle steamers, seven screw steamers and one turbine steamer (TS Premysl). The introduction of paddle steamer Smichov coincided with an expansion of services downstream to Melnik where the Vltava meets the Labe and along the larger river to the border with Germany at Hrensko.

With the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state in 1918, the CPASL was formed to operate freight vessels on the Elbe, which included agreed rights to sail through Germany and to establish a customs-free zone at the Port of Hamburg. The company was nationalised in 1948 and from 1949 as the CPSLO (which incorporated a similar company with rights on the River Oder and port facilities at Stettin (later Szczecin in Poland) and also the PPS which was wound up . The CSPLO was de-nationalised as the CSPL in 1992 but went bankrupt shortly afterwards.

PPS regained its independent local management in 1961
Prag/Praha (1865-1921). German (starboard) and Czech (port) names on paddleboxes.  Sold for use in Poland in 1921 as Stanislaw https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praha_(Schiff,_1865)

Vysehrad (1866-1953), later Zbraslav (1928) then  Konigsaal (1942), then  Zbraslav (1946) : https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbraslav_(Schiff,_1866)

Rudolf (1885)  later Modrany
Stefanie (1885)  later Jarov
Libuse (1886)

Frantisek Josef I (1887-1967, scrapped in 1981). later Zbraslav (1918) then Praha (1928), Prag (1942), Praha (1945) the Vcela. Withdrawn in 1970 scrapped in 1978

Primator Dittrich (1891-1951) later Vysehrad (1939), then Chrudim (1942), then Vysehrad (1945).  https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vy%C5%A1ehrad_(Schiff,_1891)
Ferdinand I Dobrotivy (1891-1937) Renamed Stechovice

Smichov (1895-1952, Ruston) Renamed Roudnice N/L in 1918 and from 1942 it was named Smichov until it became Lidice in 1945. Reengined by CKD in 1942 (to compound diagonal). Withdrawn in 1952 with boiler damage and scrapped. 

Frantisek Josef  (1911-1967) . Ex- Dresden fleet. Built in 1880 as Kaiser Franz Josef. Scrapped in 1981. later Melnik (1918), Hradcany (1937), Peter Parler (1942), Hradcany (1945). Engine & wheel at Lauenburg Museum

Masaryk (1921-1935) ex- Dresden fleet.  Built in 1890 as Stadt Wehlen. Out of service in 1935 following a breakage of the paddle shaft. Scrapped in 1937

Palacky (1921-1964)  ex- Dresden fleet. Built in 1891 as Furst Bismarck and renamed Herrenkretschen in 1919. Renamed Stechovice in 1937, Goldenkron in 1942, Stalingrad in 1946 and Sneznik in 1961. Scrapped in 1967  

Dr Edvard Benes (1938) later Labe, then Wischerad, Dr Edvard Benes and Vysehrad (until 1988 until name given to ex-Devin). Survives as a floating bar in central Prague but without deckhouses

Antonin Svehla (1938) later Karlstein, TG Masaryk, Devin and Vysehrad. Survives but laid-up and currently out of service at Prague, but used as a restaurant. Reactivation remains a possibility


After the end of World War II and the re-establishment of Czechoslovakia, a number of paddle steamers which were in the Dresden-based Elbe fleet, which had operated services along both the German and Czech stretches of the Elbe, were transferred to Czech ownership

Litomerice (1945) Built in 1893 as Leitmeritz. Later Maxim Gorkij (1952). Withdrawn in 1958. The ship (minus engines) was used as a youth hostel in Prague. Scrapped at Melnik in 1969.
Podebrady (1945) Built in 1894. Salesel  ex- Prinz Georg and Koenig Georg. Later renamed DSO Dynamo in 1949. Withdrawn in 1956 and scrapped in 1959
Podmokly (1945) Built in 1896 as Bodenbach. Later Dr Miroslav Tyrs (1948), and after withdrawal in 1959, Druzba then MSMT 2. Sank in 1969. Scrapped in 1980
Aussig (1945)  Built in 1894 as Wettin and renamed Aussig in 1919. Later Jiskra (1964), Scrapped in 1969 after crankshaft broke in 1966

Lobositz  (returned to the Dresden fleet in 1948)
Schmilka (returned to the Dresden fleet in 1948)

Still in service

Vltava (1941) Based at Prague

Labe (1949). Returned to service based on the Elbe at Decin in 2023 as Labe-Elbe, having been withdrawn in 1987 and later found owners who ran her in Germany on the River Weser
Above : Prag (1865)

Above: Vysehrad (1866)
Above : Zbraslav  (ex- Vysehrad 1866)

 


Above : Frantisek Josef I
Above : Praha (ex Frantisek Josef I, 1887)
Above : Primator Dittrich (1891)


Above : Roudnice N/L (ex-Smichov 1895)  in a post card view from the Istvan Radi collection
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Historical Database