Centenary
In 1926, on the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea, Slobodna plovidba Topic was founded under the steady hand of Ante Topic. One hundred years later, Topic Group, the international shipping company that carries that legacy forward, is marking its centenary with the launch of a new unified brand, a new website, and a commemorative book that tells the full story of the people and vessels that shaped a century at sea.
The story begins even earlier than 1926. In 1890, Ante Topic, the grandfather of the Ante Topic who would later steer the business through communist Yugoslavia, founded the first shipping company in the family name on the island of Vis, alongside his son Serafin. Serafin Topic became the mayor of Vis and was decorated by Emperor Franz Joseph. His son Ante (1880-1974) then carried the flag through empires, wars, and nationalisations, navigating eleven company incarnations without ever losing the Topic name or flag.
One entity never stopped: the Ant. Topic agency in Trieste, originally founded as Terramare and renamed in 1955, has operated continuously for over one hundred years. It is the longest-running family shipping enterprise in the Mediterranean.
When the Albertini family, Paolo, Giovanni, and later Alex and Marc, took the helm, they did not change the course. They confirmed it. The values that had guided Topic since the beginning, Family, Honesty, Excellence, Innovation, became, in the words of the book that celebrates this centenary, ‘the ballast that has kept Topic upright, no matter the weather.’
Giovanni Albertini’s words still guide the business today: ‘A reputation takes 30 years to build, and 30 seconds to destroy.’
Alex Albertini, CEO of Topic Group, writes in the foreword to the centenary book: ‘This centennial marks not an end, but the beginning of a new chapter. Ahead lie uncharted seas and unseen horizons. With an experienced crew, the strength of a reliable ship, and the same guiding principles, we continue to sail grateful for the voyage so far, and optimistic for the voyages yet to come.’
The centenary is marked by three milestones.
- A commemorative book, researched across archives in Zagreb, Rijeka, Trieste, and Monaco, and written with the testimonies of dozens of seafarers who sailed under the Topic flag, tells the full story of the families and the fleet.
- A new unified brand brings together Topic Shipping, Topic Energies, and Topic Ventures under one clear identity for the first time.
- And a new website makes that story accessible to the world.
The fleet today comprises eight dry cargo vessels, handysize, supramax, and ultramax, operated to the same standard that has defined the business for a century. In 2019, Topic took its innovation further still, upgrading M/V Paolo Topic into the world’s first hybrid solar bulk carrier. That project has since grown into Topic Energies and its SEAOLAR maritime solar system, now available commercially to shipowners across the segment.
The centenary book, written by Barbara Durasovic, draws on hundreds of pages of archival documents and personal testimonies from seafarers, captains, and families who have sailed under the Topic flag across generations.
Notes to editors
Topic Group operates a fleet of eight dry cargo vessels from its Monaco headquarters, with a crewing department in Trieste. The Ant. Topic agency in Trieste has operated continuously since 1910, making it the longest-standing family shipping enterprise in the Mediterranean. Topic Group was formally founded in 1926, a date chosen, in the words of the centenary book, as a symbolic convergence of past, present, continuity, and success.