The first ships were purchased and operated by the government in order to ensure the supply of critical resources during World War II. After the war, a privately owned merchant fleet emerged, spurred in part by government subsidies that paid for the fleet's operation up until 1953, among them on behalf of the Migros Genossenschaftsbund the cargo ship "Adele" which was christened by Adele Duttweiler, the wife of Gottlieb Duttweiler, in Hamburg on 15 July 1952; her sister ship Sunamelia was commissioned some months later.