German Steamship Company "Hansa"
The German Steamship Company "Hansa" ( DDG "Hansa" for short ) or Hansa-Linie was founded in Bremen in 1881 . Until it went bankrupt in 1980, it was one of the most important shipping companies in the world.
history
Early years
The DDG "Hansa" was founded on December 3, 1881 at the "constituent general assembly " in Bremen by mainly Bremen merchants. The aim of the company was to build long-distance trade by steamships with India , as well as to create regular line connections to the German Baltic Sea ports, to Scandinavia , the western Mediterranean and to Russia . The founding capital of the company, the name of which may be traced back to the Unterweser towing company of the same name, which was liquidated in 1873, was initially four million marks, but was then reduced to three million marks. Under the chairman of the board, Christoph Hellwig Papendieck , a rice mill owner and wine importer, the first seven ships with a total load capacity of around 15,000 tons were commissioned, with which a regular service to India , the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea was set up in 1882/83 .
On January 2, 1882, Oltmann Johann Dietrich Ahlers from Elsfleth was appointed director. This enlarged and rejuvenated the fleet and expanded the shipping company's route network in the following years. In April 1883, the shipping company entered river shipping with the tug Hansa and two barges and began a feeder service between Bremen, Bremerhaven and Hamburg . In the same year the "Hansa" opened a service on the Chinese coast. On May 10, 1884, the shipping company lost its first ship with the steamer Stolzenfels after its collision on the Mekong . Shipping to the Baltic Sea was given up again in 1904 after years of heavy losses, and the likewise unprofitable Mediterranean voyage was reduced to the lines to Spain and Portugal . The losses of the other lines were absorbed by the connections to Southeast Asia , which developed favorably. In order to be able to establish closer connections in this promising sailing area, the Asiatic Line was founded in December 1888 with a share capital of two million marks as an independent company that held a special position within the DDG "Hansa" for several years. To operate the new line, five ships of the wine class were initially ordered , which were followed by a replacement after the loss of the steamer Marcobrunner . In April 1889 the shipping company moved into its own office building at Second Battle Gate 1, the address of which later changed to Schlachte 6 through acquisitions and renovations . With medium-sized ships, the shipping company operated the area of the La Plata ports from 1890 initially sporadically and soon afterwards as a separate line. A joint service with Norddeutscher Lloyd was set up in this shipping area in 1893 , for which the DDG specially ordered two new steamers in Flensburg . Another trade area arose after the British shipping company Coverley & Company ceased trading in Portugal in 1893. The "Hansa" opened a Hamburg-Portugal alternative service, on which it soon joined a joint service with the Oldenburg-Portuguese steamship shipping company (OPDR) drove. In 1895 the DDG was merged with the Asiatic Line and their common line network was strengthened. In 1898 the Hamburg-Calkutta-Linie , a joint venture of the Hamburg shipping companies A. Kirsten and F. Laeisz , which had been competing in this area since 1888 , ceased operations, while the DDG expanded its shipping area at the same time to include Rangoon in Burma .
In 1902, the DDG reached an agreement with HAPAG and Norddeutscher Lloyd , according to which these outgoing cargo could also depart from India to Germany . In 1903 the East Indian Line received the status of a Reichspostdampferlinie from the German Reich . Also in 1903 the "Hansa" opened liner services from North America to India and South Africa . In 1907 these North American lines were extended to the Dutch East Indies . In the mid-1900s, a large number of older and smaller units were sold off and larger ships were commissioned, all of which now no longer had auxiliary sails . In 1910, board member Hermann Helms replaced the late director Ahlers as chairman of the board. Starting with the steamer Birkenfels , almost all ships in the DDG fleet were equipped with wireless telegraphy between 1910 and 1913. In 1911 the "Hansa" expanded its agreement with the Hamburg-America Line. The HAL joined the India liner service of the DDG and this contributed the two steamers Goldenfels and O. J. D. Ahlers to the joint freight line . In addition, in 1914 the "Hansa" set up a line from Scandinavia to India together with several British and Scandinavian shipping companies . The fleet of the "Hansa" had grown strongly again in the years since 1900. While around 1900 there were still around 40 units with 116,653 gross register tonnes, in 1913 the DDG was the third largest German shipping company with 67 ships and the ninth largest worldwide. A year later, the shipping company owned 70 ships and another ten units under construction, which already had a total measurement of 437,489 GRT. In addition, the shipping company operated a number of barges, barges, tugs, etc. When the war started in 1914, DDG "Hansa" was the world's largest pure freight shipping company. As early as 1914, the shipping company lost 27 of its ships, mostly in British ports or through British naval forces. By 1917 there were 17 additional losses, mainly due to the entry of initially neutral states into the war. Of these, fourteen (nine by German submarines) were totally lost by the end of the war.
If you include the ships under construction, half of the seagoing fleet was lost in the years of the First World War as a result of war losses and confiscation in foreign ports. From 1912 to 1915, according to the plans of the architects Heinrich Wilhelm Behrens and Friedrich Neumark, the shipping company's office building, which was rebuilt from 1950 onwards, was built at Martinistraße 26, which the Handelskrankenkasse acquired around 1981/83 .
| Timeline DDG "Hansa" cargo ship classes 1881–1918 (selection) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class / years | 1880s | 1890s | 1900s | 1910s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | |
| Wartburg- class | construction | business | sale | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Trifels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wine type class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DDG Bombay Line steamer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Flensburg La Plata steamer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5500 tdw steamer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Argentina steamer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8000 tdw steamer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10,000 tdw steamer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| East India steamer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Liebenfels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7000 tdw steamer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crostafels class (1904) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Marksburg- class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rheinfels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| La Plata replacement buildings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Warturm class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ockenfels- class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rappenfels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kronenfels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Trostburg class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Altenfels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Between the wars and the Second World War
After the end of the First World War , the entire remaining shipping fleet of 35 ships except for a small steamer, the Soneck , was expropriated. The reconstruction began under Hermann Helms, who managed the company until 1940. In order not to see the Bremen steamship company “Neptun”, which is even more at risk, sacrificed to external interests, “Hansa” took over a larger share of the competitor's shares during this time.
With the only remaining DDG ship Soneck , the joint service with the OPDR to Portugal was resumed in August 1919 and this was extended to northern and southern Spain by April 1921. In July 1920, the DDG resumed its liner service to India with charter tonnage. In November 1920, the shipping company started up its first post-war newbuilding on this important line, the Frauenfels steamer, which was ordered during the war . Further newbuildings and purchases, including some repurchases of expropriated shipping company ships, followed and in December 1921 the "Hansa" again owned 14 ships. In February 1923, the shipping company was able to split the Indian line back into individual lines to Bombay and Calcutta, with the former also serving Karachi and ports on the Persian Gulf on the return journey. This trip to the Persian Gulf, initially only operated as an appendage in the regular service, soon developed into one of the main shipping areas of the DDG "Hansa". In 1924 the fleet had grown to 27 units and in the following year the shipping company ordered new motor ships for the first time since the Rolandseck built in 1912 as part of the further expansion of the fleet with the Schwarzenfels class . In 1926 the voyage to Rangoon was resumed and in the following year a monthly service to the ports of the Indian Ocean was added. In 1928, the DDG acquired shed 81 in the port of Hamburg and gave up river shipping. In the same year, the shipping company commissioned Deschimag for the pioneering Lichtenfels ships , the first heavy lift ships of the "Hansa" . Starting with these ships, the "Hansa" later rose to become the world's largest heavy lift shipping company.
The years after 1929 were overshadowed by the global economic crisis , in which shipping operations had to be rationalized, the number of departures reduced and finally ships also had to be laid up (temporarily out of service). In the hope of increasing cargo volumes from the United States, the DDG opened a line between the USA's east coast ports and South Africa in 1931. In the following year, the Rangoon line was given up and the older units Argenfels , Axenfels , Crostafels and Reichenfels were sold with the scrapping aid offered by the Reich government until the end of the year . The Ehrenfels , Rolandseck and Soneck were sold normally, after which the DDG fleet still consisted of 41 seagoing vessels with a total load capacity of 406,447 tons and a few tugs, barges and barges at the end of 1932. From 1932 onwards, Norddeutsche Lloyd took over around three quarters of the share capital of DDG “Hansa” - a connection that was dissolved some time later in the course of the divestment of the shipping company in the Third Reich. From 1935 onwards, the "Hansa" commissioned new ships, such as the Ehrenfels class, with government grants .
At the beginning of the Second World War , 44 ships made eleven regular departures from Bremen to ports on the Indian Ocean , the Persian Gulf , Spain and Portugal , as well as from North America to India, the Persian Gulf and Africa . The DDG "Hansa" route network comprised the following services:
- From Bremen to Bombay and Karachi (ten-day departures)
- From Bremen to Spain and Portugal (ten-day departures)
- From Bremen to the Persian Gulf (bi-weekly departures)
- From Bremen to Colombo , Madras and Calcutta (bi-weekly departures)
- From Bremen to Tuticorin and Rangoon (three-weekly departures)
- From Bremen to the Kathiawar coast and Mormugoa (monthly departures)
- From Bremen to Kakinada and Visakhapatnam (monthly departures)
- From Bremen to Chittagong (six weekly departures)
- From Bremen to the Malabar coast (bi-monthly departures)
- From the US East Coast to the Persian Gulf (monthly departures with two foreign shipping companies)
- From the US East Coast to South and East Africa (bi-monthly departures)
During the war years the "Hansa" lost 56 (other source 54) seagoing ships with a total of 320,650 GRT, three barges and 13 barges, and 144 seamen were killed. On October 6, 1944, the shipping company's office building burned down in an air raid and the equipment depot in Bremen and the repair workshop in Hamburg were also victims of the war. In addition, the shipping company lost all properties and assets abroad.
| Timeline DDG "Hansa" cargo ship classes 1920–1945 (selection) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class / years | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | |
| Frauenfels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stormrock- class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Steamboat for service to the Persian Gulf | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Schwarzenfels- class | construction | Operational phase | Exit phase | Sale / loss | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| DDG Prince liner | purchase | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wachtfels- class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lichtenfels ships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ehrenfels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spain Portugal steamer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lichtenfels and other replacement buildings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hansa ships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Post-war period and end
After the Second World War, the DDG “Hansa” had to hand over the remaining eleven ships of its merchant fleet to the Allies. Three paid ships under construction in Sweden will also be expropriated later. A few motor lighters remain, the Hansa I harbor launch and the Ali Baba barge, which was converted from an Oberweser barge . From 1943 to 1969, Hermann Helms junior (1898–1983), son of the former Hansa boss Hermann Helms (1868–1942), headed the company. With the remaining and few purchased small vehicles as well as a few charter ships, the shipping company initially started very limited post-war operations. From 1950, two larger ships began to return to tramping and in 1951 the first liner services to the Persian Gulf and the Iberian Peninsula could be resumed. In the years 1951/52 the shipping company took over three heavy lift ships of the Bärenfels class and from 1954 six very modern units of the Lichtenfels class followed , with which the specialization begun before the world war followed. With the management of the wine tanker Vinum , the shipping company operated a rather unusual vehicle from 1953.
In 1956, the "Hansa" fleet again had a size of 44 ships, mainly used tonnage (including some buybacks of own ships) and new heavy-lift carriers as well as 74 river ships. With the exception of the service between the USA, South and East Africa, the DDG was again on all lines operated before the war. The closure of the Suez Canal as a result of the Suez Crisis , however, led to significant financial losses in 1956/57. Another problem of these years was the establishment of their own merchant fleets in independent states, which were often accompanied by protectionist measures. The shipping company reacted to the changed market situation with rationalization measures, such as the downsizing of ship crews and the sale of older units and built its heavy lift business in the following years with the construction of the Schwarzenfels class , the Wartenfels class , the type WN and 1967/68 with the conversion of the Uhenfels into the world's most powerful heavy lift carrier. In 1959, the shipping company gave up its shares in the Deutsche Flugdienst Gesellschaft and took over the majority of the shares in the Atlas Levante Line (ALL), whose shipping area coincided with that of the "Hansa". In the following year, it had grown to become the largest German shipping company with 56 seagoing vessels with a total load capacity of 426,542 tons.
In December 1962, the general meeting resolved to increase the share capital from DM 15 to 17.5 million.
From the mid-1960s onwards, several new business areas were added for "Hansa". The growing oil drilling business at sea required tailor-made oil rig suppliers . The Preussag subsidiary Vereinigte Tanklager und Transportmittel Gesellschaft (VTG) founded the North Sea Supply Ship Company ( NVG) together with the tank shipping company De Vries and began using suitable offshore vehicles with NVG 2 in 1965. The "Hansa" had observed the beginnings of this business and commissioned the Kattenturm , a replica of the NVG 2 , from Rolandwerft , which it took over on March 24, 1966. In the meantime, VTG had separated from the De Vries shipping company and transferred the management of NVG 2 to DDG in December 1965. In 1967 both companies founded a joint shipping company, VHO VTG / Hansa Offshore, based in Bremen, whose seafaring staff was provided by the "Hansa". From 1968 they entered into a joint partnership with the London shipping company Offshore Marine Limited , from which the third-party marketing company Offshore Supply Association (OSA) emerged. In the years that followed, VTG and "Hansa" built up a growing fleet of oil rig suppliers, which remained in the respective ownership of the partners, but were managed by VHO VTG and deployed by OSA. In 1970 the VHO VTG was dissolved again and each of the two shipping companies took over the care of the respective ships. After a change of shareholders at Offshore Marine Limited , it left OSA in 1973, whereupon VTG and DDG each took over 50% of the OSA shares. In addition, at the end of the 1970s, “Hansa” was still operating the subsidiary shipping companies Hansa Offshore (SEA) and Offshore Supply Association in Singapore.
In the early 1970s, the DDG "Hansa" expanded its field of activity again. She built container ships , with which the liner service between the US east coast and the Mediterranean Sea was switched, and RoRo ships to counteract the long lay times caused by the chronic clogging of the ports on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. In addition, the "Hansa" operated the waste incineration ship Vulcanus and the gas tanker Cape Skagen . Further investments were held in Horst Striesow Schiffahrtsgesellschaft in Westerrönfeld, the American Heavy Lift Shipping Company (25%) and Hansa Line USA in Wilmington and Hansa Shipping in Panama.
After the shipping company invested large sums in the rebuilding of the fleet and the development of RoRo and container services in the second half of the 1970s, the company with its 2,886 employees at the time suffered from the weak dollar, falling cargo volumes with overcapacity and increasing competition from outsiders and state-owned shipping companies , a doubling of the bunker prices and relatively high personnel costs in financial difficulties. As a result, the shipping company was unable to adapt to the changed conditions. In addition, the Iranian part of the cargo in the Persian Gulf , which completely collapsed in 1979, affected the shipping company's most important trading area in the wake of the Islamic Revolution . In April 1980 the share capital was reduced from 60 to 10 million DM and then increased again by a new 30 million DM. However, the measure was only able to compensate for the large deficits from ongoing ship operations, whereupon the "Hansa" announced a settlement on August 18, 1980 had to. On December 31 of the year shipping operations were discontinued. The shipping company Hapag-Lloyd took over the liner business in Madagascar, Mauritius and in the Near and Middle East, the long-term partner VTG took over the further operation of the oil rig supply fleet. With these two steps, about 660 of the last 2500 jobs could be saved. The rest of the fleet and the numerous properties were sold. The chimney brand was acquired in 1984 by the Bremen heavy lift shipping company Project Carriers.
| Timeline DDG "Hansa" post-war cargo ship classes 1950–1980 (selection) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class / years | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | |
| Bear Rock class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lichtenfels class | Construction phase | Deployment phase | Sales phase | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ST class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Schwarzenfels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Uhenfels (single ship) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wartenfels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crostafels class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ST class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| F class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Raven Rock class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Timeline DDG "Hansa" supply ships and classes 1965–1980 (selection) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class / years | 1960s | 1970s | |||||||||||||
| 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | |
| NVG 2 | |||||||||||||||
| NVG 3 , NVG 4 | construction | business | sale | ||||||||||||
| Kattenturm | |||||||||||||||
| NVG 5 , NVG 6 , Millerntor | |||||||||||||||
| Fangturm , Imkenturm , Page Tower | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-3000 | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-4000 (1968) | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-6000 (1971) | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-4500 | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-2100/2200 | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-4000 (1972) | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-2000 | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-6000 (1973) | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-4700/4800/4900 | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-8000 | |||||||||||||||
| Type OSA-13000 | |||||||||||||||
Ship names, identification marks and colors
From the first takeover of the Stolzenfels steamer in February 1882 to the ro-ro freighter Rheinfels , which joined the shipping fleet in December 1977, the DDG "Hansa" maintained a largely uniform naming scheme for its ships. Almost all ships were named after castles, palaces and defense towers from Bremen. This resulted in name endings with -Fels, -Burg, -Eck and -Turm. In later years, a system developed from this, in which the name could be used to infer a specific trade area or a specific type of ship (for example, later all names of the offshore suppliers ended with gate and tower). In Rotterdam, a harbor basin was even named Felshaven .
Another identification mark of the shipping company, unchanged from start to finish, was its chimney mark with a Hanseatic cross on a white field, which was set off by a red ribbon at the top and bottom. The house or office flag initially showed the Rheinburg Stolzenfels, but a short time later it was designed in line with the chimney brand.
The traditional colors of the "Hansa" ships consisted of a black hull with a red underwater hull, white superstructures and yellow-brown masts (buff). In 1961/62 the outboard and mast color were changed to a uniform gray. In the 1970s, this uniformity was shifted somewhat and the container and RoRo ships outboard were painted red.
literature
- Prager, Hans Georg : DDG Hansa - From liner service to special shipping . Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1976, ISBN 3-7822-0105-1 .
- Peter Kiehlmann, Holger Patzer: The cargo ships of the DDG Hansa . HM Hauschild, Bremen 2000, ISBN 3-931785-02-5 .
- Holger Patzer: The river and port shipping of the DDG Hansa . HM Hauschild, Bremen 2009, ISBN 978-3-89757-140-2 .
- Reinhold Thiel : The history of the DDG Hansa . Volume 1: 1881-1918. HM Hauschild, Bremen 2010, ISBN 978-3-89757-477-9 .
- Reinhold Thiel: The history of the DDG Hansa . Volume 2: 1919-1945. HM Hauschild, Bremen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89757-479-3 .
Web links
- Private website about the DDG "Hansa" with a lot of information about the "Hansa" line u. their ships
- Private page about the history of the DDG "Hansa" ships with detailed chronicles and many pictures
- Early documents and newspaper articles on the German Steamship Company "Hansa" in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ according to the Bremen Commercial Register, HRB 1681, entry no. 51/1963
- ^ Jan Mordhorst: Suppliers at sea . Use in wind and weather. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-7822-0659-2 , p. 9-18 .
- ↑ Report of the board of directors to the shareholders , DDG “Hansa”, Bremen, March 1979 ( Memento of the original from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
