Ultranav was founded as Sociedad Naviera Ultragas Ltda.in 1960 by Captain Albert von Appen (1901 – 1971), who arrived to Chile from Hamburg in 1937 as a representative for the Hapag and Norddeutscher Lloyd shipping companies. The company was amongst the first to be engaged in the transport of gas in liquid form having constructed as its first vessel the “Ultragas“, a 90 cubic meter capacity gas carrier newbuilding. With an overall length of 23 meters, it was probably the smallest vessel of its kind ever built. Placed into service in the southernmost Patagonia region of South America, it vastly improved the logistics for local gas producers and consumers, replacing the traditional transport of gas in steel bottles.