in winter 1943 gottlieb duttweiler and the migros-genossenschafts-bund, zürich, withdrew from the shipping company maritime suisse s.a. originally duttweiler planned to establish the merchant marine of switzerland during world war ii, nevertheless, the creation a shipping company with initially three victory and three liberty ships, sailing on a regular liner service between the usa and the mediterranean sea, never was realized. the shipping company "reederei zürich ag" was founded on 26 july 1951 respectively on 3 august 1951, on initiative of duttweiler respectively migros-genossenschafts-bund (mgb), together with his friend, ernst göhner, a construction entrepreneur from zürich. the share capital amounted to 3,5 mio. chf, it was registered at limmatstrasse 152, zürich, at the same address as the mgb. gottlieb duttweiler was its president, göhner the vice-president, heinrich rengel of the mgb-administration and oskar meier completed the board.