A. C. de Freitas & Co.

{{Infobox company

| name = A. C. de Freitas & Co.

| logo =

| type = Company

| industry = Trading and shipping

| fate =

| predecessor =

| successor = Augusto de Freitas GmbH

| founded = 1835

| founder = Augusto Constantino de Freitas

| defunct =

| hq_location_city = Hamburg

| hq_location_country =

| area_served = Great Britain, South America and the Mediterranean

| key_people =

| products =

| owner =

| num_employees =

| num_employees_year =

| parent =

| website =

}}

File:Beethoven (ship, 1904) - SLV H99.220-2582.jpg

A. C. de Freitas & Co. was, at the end of the 19th century, one of the largest privately owned trading and shipping companies in Hamburg. Its failure to list as a public company was the main reason for its downfall a decade later.

Augusto Constantino de Freitas founded the company in 1835.{{cite book|last=Lintzer|first=Gottfried|title=A. C. de Freitas & Co – Kaufmannsreeder|publisher=Norderstedt |year=2010|ISBN=978-3-8391-5759-6|pages=17}}

From its beginnings with sailing ships that carried goods on their own account, the company developed into a large enterprise with extensive interests in Great Britain, South America and the Mediterranean. In 1879, steamships replaced the small fleet of sailing ships.{{rp|47}} In 1884, a regular scheduled service began into the Adriatic Sea and in 1892 there was a growing fleet of steamers to southern Brazil and Argentina.{{rp|69 & 84}}{{cite book|last=Detlefsen|first=Gert Uwe|title=1891-1991 Paul Günther|publisher=Gert Uwe Detlefsen, Bad Segeberg |year=1991|pages=10 & 11}} In 1900, Albert Ballin bought the 14 steamships employed in the South American trade for the Hamburg America Line.{{rp|117}}{{cite book|last=Kludas|first=Arnold|title=Die Geschichte der Hapag-Schiffe|publisher=Hauschild |year=2007|ISBN=978-3-89757-341-3|pages=204–212}} The end of the shipping arm of the company came in 1911 with the sale of the six steam ships used in the Mediterranean Sea to Deutsche Levante Linie.{{rp|184}} The same year also saw the two large sailing vessels, Beethoven and Mozart, sold off. A diminishing trade in goods continued under the name of Augusto de Freitas GmbH.