Cologne-Düsseldorf German Rhine Shipping

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cologne-Düsseldorf
Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding June 11, 1826
Seat Dusseldorf
management Achim Schloemer
Thomas Günther
Number of employees 205
sales 30.2 million euros
Branch Tourism
Website www.kd.com
Status: October 24, 2019

The Cologne-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt GmbH , abbreviated to KD , stands in the tradition of the operating group Cologne and Düsseldorfer Gesellschaft für Rhein-Dampfschiffahrt , which was formed in 1853 by two shipping companies founded in Cologne and Düsseldorf in 1826 and 1836. Through a merger agreement of May 16, 1967, the younger Düsseldorf company was merged into the older Cologne company, which took on the new name KÖLN-DÜSSELDORFER Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt Aktiengesellschaft . With a fleet of thirteen ships, KD is the market leader for pleasure and scheduled trips on the rivers Rhine , Main and Moselle . Traditional excursion destinations are the attractions of the Middle Rhine or special events such as the Rhine in Flames .

Until the delisting in July 2017, KD was one of the oldest continuously listed stock corporations in the world.

history

The Concordia , the first German steamship on the Rhine
Timetable of June 9, 1853
Express steamer Friede in Koblenz
Registered share of 200 Thaler of the Preussisch-Rheinische Dampfschiffahrt-Gesellschaft dated February 28, 1846
Rhine steamship trip on the Lohengrin for the 200th company anniversary of Johann Maria Farina opposite Jülichs-Platz in July 1909
The two multifunctional ships RheinFantasie and RheinEnergie on May 5, 2011 in Cologne

On October 3, 1825, the Prussian-Rhenish Steamship Company (PRDG) was established in Cologne under the direction of the businessman Peter Heinrich Merkens . The Prussian Interior Minister Friedrich von Schuckmann approved the statutes of the Cologne Society on June 11, 1826. Even before that, on January 24, 1826, the PRDG had a smooth-deck steamship for the combined people at the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij Fijenoord shipyard in Nieuw-Lekkerland - and goods traffic ordered, which should be delivered in mid-1827. This ship was structurally identical to the wooden paddle steamer Concordia, which had recently been ordered by the Steamship Company for the Rhine and Main (DGRM) . During the test drives it turned out that this type of ship was not suitable for trips on the Upper Rhine due to its design, so that the DGRM offered the PRDG to use the ship in a joint venture on the Middle Rhine. On May 1, 1827, the PRDG began operating this steamer in passenger and express freight services on the route from Mainz to Cologne. On June 8, 1827, the second steamer - the Friedrich Wilhelm - was put into service. The company is said to have been listed on the Cologne stock exchange from 1832 .

On May 18, 1836, merchants from Mainz, Elberfeld-Barmer and Düsseldorf founded the Steamship Company for the Lower and Middle Rhine (DGNM) based in Düsseldorf. On September 22, 1836, the Prussian government granted the DGNM permission to operate in the same area as the PRDG between Cologne and Mannheim . From 1838, the DGNM started operating with five steamers. In the following years, fierce competition sparked between the two companies and a Dutch shipping company, the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij . In addition to price reductions and races to acquire customers, reports of reciprocal ship ramming were also reported in the 1840s.

Under these circumstances, both companies could not be run economically, so that on June 9, 1853, they finally founded the operating group Cologne and Düsseldorf Society for Rhine Steam Shipping. From then on, the two still independent shipping companies operated their ships between Rotterdam and Strasbourg with a common timetable. The contract was initially concluded for a period of six years. When this contract was extended for an indefinite period on April 15, 1859, the companies stipulated that the route from Mannheim to Strasbourg would no longer be operated, as it was no longer economically viable due to the construction of a railway line, particularly in freight traffic. The shipping companies also agreed that they would alternately commission new ships to modernize the fleet. In 1860 a total of 1.2 million passengers were carried, the two shipping companies each owned 14 steamers.

Under the influence of competition with the significantly faster railways, the annual average of passenger numbers stagnated at around one million between 1861 and 1899, while goods transport, on the other hand, steadily lost its importance. At the time of advancing industrialization , the need for recreational trips on the Rhine increased, so that in 1867, the Humboldt and Friede express steamers, the first two pure passenger ships, were put into service. From 1885, the shipping companies alternately put one ship into service each year, so that the fleet was increased to 32 ships by 1914. The number of passengers rose from the turn of the century to 1913 to over 1.9 million annually. On August 4, 1913, the PRDG put the Goethe, the last smooth-deck steamer, into service for combined freight and passenger traffic.

As a result of a lack of fuel and staff, line operations had to be restricted during the First World War . Some ships, for example the Crown Princess Cecilie , were converted into hospital ships, which could transport up to 500 wounded. After the end of the war, the French allies banned the transport of people on the Rhine until the summer of 1919. Some ships were used as troop transports, and the Marine National Flottille de Rhin also expropriated the steamers Loreley , Parcival and Rheinstein and converted them into river gunboats . Due to a railway strike , the Cologne-Düsseldorfer took over the mail transport on the Rhine between Ludwigshafen and Xanten from March 11 to December 17, 1923 .

On January 2, 1925, the PRDG and the DGNM founded the Köln-Düsseldorfer Rheinschiffahrts GmbH . In this company, the management of both shipping companies was merged, and a legal entity was created to which joint ship or other ownership could be transferred. The Cologne plant took over the logistical tasks, the commercial support was taken over by the Düsseldorf administration. The GmbH took over three ships from the parent companies, two of which were sold again within the same year.

Due to the economic upswing in the " Golden Twenties ", the need for luxuriously equipped passenger ships increased, so that the companies converted several ships intended for combined transport into pure passenger ships . In 1926, the paddle steamers Rheinland and Vaterland were the first two newbuildings after the First World War. In the same year, as part of a joint project at the shipyard Christof Ruthof , the companies commissioned the first diesel- powered motor ship - the Freiherr von Stein , which could be used from May 1927.

On April 30, 1928, the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Reederij (NSR) was accepted into the joint venture with ten steamers. This partnership set a new passenger record for 1928 with 2.649 million passengers carried. The NSR took over in 1929 the last four not converted combi ships and took over the complete freight transport by Cologne-Düsseldorf . In the same year the DGNM and Mainz put the last paddle wheel steamer built for KD into service. As a result of the global economic crisis , the number of passengers fell by over 20% by 1933, and freight transport fell by 50%. This downward trend could only be counteracted by trips for the organization Kraft durch Freude and other NS mass organizations .

In the Second World War , the KD almost completely lost its fleet; only the Mainz was the only one of 22 ships from the pre-war period to be preserved.

On May 19, 1946, passenger traffic between Cologne and Königswinter was resumed with two ships. By 1953, 18 ships had been repaired, including fourteen paddle steamers. On May 16, 1967, the PRDG merged with the DGNM to become the KÖLN-DÜSSELDORFER Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt Aktiengesellschaft . In the further course the company had to struggle with falling numbers of passengers due to competition for inexpensive foreign travel as well as a large number of amusement parks , the decline in tourism in the Rhine and the increase in automobile travel and made losses.

It also offered Rhine cruises between 1960 and 1995. Europe was the first river cruise ship ever built, and more ships followed.

In December 1993 the loss-making company was taken over by the shareholders Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf , Bankhaus Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. and Henkell & Co. sold to WestLB AG . After that, WestLB undertook extensive renovation measures on the partly outdated fleet (e.g. the faithful, costly restoration of the Goethe , which was put back into service on August 26, 1996) and KD - after splitting up into the river cruise business and the day trip business - Sold to Viking River Cruises (took over the river cruise business) and Premicon (day trip business) in January 2000 . Both managed to bring their holdings into the profit zone and successfully present them on the market.

Catamaran Rheinenergie as a Rhine ship Benedict XVI. on August 18 during World Youth Day 2005

Belonging to the Munich-based Beteiligungs-GmbH Premicon, the company increasingly focused on its role as a "shipping event company". With the offer of seasonal events on board the ships, new accents were set compared to the pure excursion traffic. Ships such as the modern catamaran Rheinenergie , the largest event catamaran in Europe, with its atrium including a 35 m² stage that can be seen from two levels, favor activities in the event business. As part of the World Youth Day 2005 , Pope Benedict XVI. this ship for pilgrimage on the Rhine.

Today, the KD offers its line trips all year round on the Rhine and Moselle and round trips and in the regions of Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Cochem additional panorama round trips. During the season, KD covers the entire section of the Rhine between Mainz and Cologne according to the timetable with up to 400 departures a day. Another important business area is chartering ships.

On June 6, 2008, the KD placed the order to convert the paddle steamer Goethe to diesel drive after the end of the season. This is how the history of steam navigation on the German part of the Rhine ended on October 5th, 2008. At the request of the KD, the dismantled steam engine was placed under monument protection in agreement with the Rhenish Monument Authority and the Monument Authority of the City of Cologne. The two-cylinder composite superheated steam machine built in 1913 by the Sachsenberg brothers in Roßlau was expanded and then made available to the Cologne City Museum as an exhibition loan.

On January 1, 2009, KD founded a wholly-owned subsidiary in Luxembourg based in Luxembourg. The aim of the expansion is to further develop international business by relocating the operational control of the ships to Luxembourg. The ten KD-owned excursion ships and their crews moved to the subsidiary KD-Europe in Luxembourg. The ships have been registered as their home port in Valletta since January and sail under the flag of Malta , just like the Premicon Group's fleet as the main shareholder. That is why the ships fly the Maltese flag at the stern , but in practice sometimes sail without this flag.

The cruise ships are operated by the KD Cruise Services Ltd. branch . Cyprus looked after.

In 2010, KD-Bereederung GmbH was founded in Bremen as a 100% subsidiary of Köln-Düsseldorfer AG . The KD-Bereederungs GmbH nautically and technically looked after the sea cruise ship Astor of the Transocean Kreuzfahrten GmbH . This company was sold to the Greek Global Maritime Group on April 1, 2013 .

In July 2010 a new, 1000-person, multifunctional passenger ship was ordered from the De Hoop Netherlands shipyard for 9.3 million euros. The launch took place on March 27, 2011, the delivery to the shipping company on April 27. On May 5th the new ship in Cologne was christened RheinFantasie .

On August 31, 2016, Premicon Beteiligungs GmbH and shareholders closely related to Premicon signed an agreement to sell their stake in the amount of 76.94% and 20.38% (97.32% in total) of the share capital in KÖLN-DÜSSELDORFER Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG (KD) to KD River Invest GmbH , a subsidiary of River Advice AG , Basel . The shares were transferred to KD River Invest GmbH on September 30, 2016.

After the River Advice Group had acquired a total of 97.32% of the KD shares, it initiated a squeeze-out procedure in December 2016 in order to become the company's sole shareholder. The exclusion of free shareholders came into effect on July 31, 2017; this also ended the stock exchange listing of the share.

Since spring 2019, the Evenstchiff MS RheinGalaxie has been built with upscale equipment that has not been found on any Kd ship so far. The ship is to be used for charter trips, preferably in the Düsseldorf area, from May 2020.

Ships

Coat of arms of Cologne (2006)
Paddle steamer Goethe (2007)
Jan von Werth in Cologne (2010)
Loreley in Cologne-Deutz
Godesburg (2007)
Hydrofoil Rheinpfeil (1986)


  • RheinGalaxie (from 2020): the newest event ship in the fleet with sophisticated equipment, capacity 1000 people, length: 85 meters, width: 14 meters
    • Special events: event, party and gourmet trips, preferably in Düsseldorf
    • Charter trips: especially between Düsseldorf and Cologne
  • RheinEnergie (since 2004): the largest event ship on European inland waters, capacity 1650 people, 6 meters ceiling height, 35 m² stage
    • Scheduled trips: between Cologne and Mainz, evening trips in Cologne
    • Special events: in the Cologne area, evening trips in Bonn , Düsseldorf and Cologne
    • Charter trips: between Bad Godesberg and Düsseldorf, in the areas of Koblenz , Mainz and Wiesbaden-Biebrich
  • RheinFantasie (since May 5, 2011): Capacity 1000 people, 6 meters ceiling height, 35 m² stage
    • Scheduled trips: between Cologne and Mainz, evening trips in Cologne
    • Special events: in the Cologne area, evening trips in Bonn, Düsseldorf and Cologne
    • Charter trips: between Bad Godesberg and Düsseldorf, in the areas of Koblenz, Mainz and Wiesbaden-Biebrich
  • Stolzenfels (since 1979)
    • Scheduled trips: between Cologne and Mainz, evening trips in Cologne
    • Special events: trips to the “ Rhine in Flames ” from Cologne
    • Charter trips: between Düsseldorf and Cologne
  • Jan von Werth (since 1992)
    • Scheduled trips: evening trips in Cologne, sightseeing trips in Cologne
    • Charter trips: in the areas of Bonn and Düsseldorf, between Wesseling and Zons , evening trips in Cologne
  • Loreley (since 1996)
    • Planned trips: between Cologne and Mainz
    • Special events: between Cologne and Linz
    • Charter trips: in the areas of Bonn-Bundeshaus and Cologne
  • Asbach (since 1996, commissioned as Marksburg , sister ship of the Loreley )
  • Goethe (paddle wheel ship, built 1913, sunk by bombs during World War II, later lifted and reactivated, conversion to oil firing and various conversions, temporarily out of service in the 1990s, restored again in 1996 and back in active service, was the last operational paddle wheel steamer on the German Rhine, was converted to diesel drive in 2008/2009)
    • Planned trips: between Koblenz and Rüdesheim
    • Special events: Advent trips in Cologne
  • Godesburg (since 1994)
    • Planned trips: between Cologne and Mainz
    • Charter trips: in the areas of Bonn, Düsseldorf, Mainz and Rüsselsheim am Main , evening trips in Rüdesheim
  • Warsteiner (since 1994)
    • Planned trips : between Duisburg and Zons, round trips in Düsseldorf
    • Charter trips: in the areas of Bonn, Düsseldorf and Krefeld-Uerdingen , evening trips in Düsseldorf
  • Boppard (since 2004, design similar to Warsteiner , shipyard ÖSWAG Linz  (A); 1996–2001 as Ostarrichi in action on Danube shipping )
    • Planned trips: between Koblenz and Mainz
    • Special events: trips to the “Rhine in Flames” from Linz
    • Charter trips: between Bingen am Rhein and Mainz, in the Sankt Goar area , evening trips in Rüdesheim
  • Palladium (since 2009): inusein Frankfurt am Main as a tour and party ship. (The ship was rebuilt in 2006.)
    • Planned trips: round trips in Frankfurt
    • Special events: party ship in Frankfurt
    • Charter trips: in the Frankfurt area, evening trips in Frankfurt

The KD also operated the only hydrofoil boats on the Rhine, the Rheinpfeil (1972-1997) and the RheinJet (1997-2000).

Several ships are rented out as advertising space ( RheinFantasie : Express Ü30-Party, Drachenfels : Sion-Kölsch). The full name was dedicated to some partners (Warsteiner, RheinEnergie, Asbach, BUGA Koblenz 2011).

Company data

The KD is managed by the managing directors Dr. Achim Schloemer (Sales, Operations, Human Resources) and Thomas Günther (Controlling, Finance).

In 2018, KD made a profit after taxes of around 900,000 euros and continued to expand the business after acquiring and converting MS RheinPoesie in Düsseldorf. At the end of the year, KD bought the traditional Boppard-based company Hebel-Linie with the ship MS Rheinkrone. From now on, MS Rheinkrone will be used as the second KD ship in Düsseldorf to further strengthen the location. The KD has already built two new landing stages in the state capital, and another followed in spring 2019. Since spring 2019, another modern 1,000-person event ship has been built, which is to be used in Düsseldorf from May 2020. The popular Cologne excursion ship MS Jan von Werth was completely modernized over the winter of 2018/2019. After the takeover of Köln-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG (KD) by KD River Invest GmbH, KD decided at the turn of the year 2018/2019 to continue running the company as a GmbH in the future.

In order to cover its maintenance and improvement work over the winter, KD first issued profit participation rights at the end of 2013 . With a volume of 1.5 million euros, the bank-independent financing accounts for half of the required credit volume.

The company's subsidiary KD Bereederung , which was founded in June 2010 and commissioned to manage the cruise ship Astor , was taken over by the Global Maritime Group in February 2013 . The reason given was the low chance of being able to manage other ships in addition to the Astor in the future. At the same time, with this step, the chartering of the ocean cruise ship was separated into summer and winter trips, so that in addition to Transocean, another provider offers trips on the ship. According to the prospectus, a charter through Transocean was originally planned for 2010 to 2018.

Subsidiary KD Cruise Services Ltd., Cyprus

TwinCruiser Thurgau Ultra
Scenic Jewel
Emerald Sky

The KD Cruise Services Ltd. was established as KD Branch Office Limassol Ltd. Established at the end of 2006. The company name changed with effect from January 1, 2010. The Cologne-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG was commissioned as the nautical-technical supervisor of the Premicon river cruise ships. On January 1st, 2008 the management of the ship funds of Premicon  AG (river cruise ships with time charter contract) was relocated to Cyprus.

Main task of KD Cruise Services Ltd. is to manage the ships of the Premicon river cruise fleet from Cyprus . This task was previously carried out from Germany. In addition, the ships of the Australian tour operators Scenic Tours and Emerald Waterways are managed. More than ten employees work in Limassol , others in offices for technical support are in Cologne, Passau and Budapest and around 250 jobs in the nautical-technical area on the ships. Michael Knauer (commercial, 2006–2012) and the authorized signatory of KD, Wolfgang Behrend (operational) took over the management of the company. On January 1, 2013, the commercial management was passed to Alexandros Agathokleous.

Subsidiary KD Europe S.à rl, Luxembourg

The KD Europe S.à rl in Luxembourg was established in December 2008 for the purpose of better European orientation as a wholly owned subsidiary of Cologne-Dusseldorf. All excursion ships, with the exception of the Mainz coat of arms, which had already been decommissioned and for sale , were sold to the subsidiary by Köln-Düsseldorfer. In addition, KD Europe took over the entire nautical and gastronomic staff of the parent company (80 employees). The newly founded company registered the ships in Malta in January 2009 . The managing directors are Gerhard Baumann (Operations) Markus Schwartz (Nautics + Technology).

distribution

The KD is supported by 43 freelance sales agencies along the route. These agencies work on a commission basis and only sell the tickets for all journeys between Cologne and Düsseldorf. Each agency must be manned one hour before the ships depart. The KD agency Cologne still operates a travel agency and has specialized in river cruises.

literature

  • Josef Dollhoff: The Cologne-Düsseldorf Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt A.-G. In: The Cologne Rhine Shipping. From Roman times to the present. JP Bachem, Cologne 1980, ISBN 3-7616-0528-5 .
  • Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 . Self-published , Marienhausen 2004, ISBN 3-00-016046-9 .
  • Rheinmuseum Emmerich (Ed.), Helmut Hübener: Rhine steamship shipping. 150 years of KD. Emmerich 2003.
  • AF Napp-Zinn: 100 years of Cologne-Düsseldorf Rhine steam shipping, in particular destruction and reconstruction 1939–1953. M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1953.
  • Stephan Nuding: 175 years of Cologne-Düsseldorf Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG. Schardt, Oldenburg 2001, ISBN 3-89841-035-8 .
  • Hans Rindt, Gunter Dexheimer (ed.): The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer then and now. Self-published, Stockstadt am Rhein 1987.
  • Ulrich S. Soénius : One company. Two city names. In: Annette Fimpeler (Ed.): Düsseldorf-Cologne. Greven-Verlag, Cologne 2012 (2011), ISBN 978-3-7743-0488-8 , pp. 145-169.

Web links

Commons : Köln-Düsseldorfer  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c § 1 of the Articles of Association as of July 11, 2013
  2. ^ Cologne-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt: sales 2017
  3. ↑ Farewell to the stock market for Germany's oldest share Report by the daily newspaper Rheinische Post on April 20, 2017, accessed on May 27, 2017
  4. ↑ a b Düsseldorf District Court HRB 10959, entry from July 31, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b c d A.F. Napp-Zinn: 100 years of Cologne-Düsseldorf Rhine steam shipping . M. Dumont Schauberg, Cologne 1953
  6. ↑ a b Georg Fischbach: The ships of the Cologne-Düsseldorfer 1826-2004 . Self-published, Marienhausen 2004, pp. 102-1035
  7. ↑ Cologne-Düsseldorfer - a fleet without ships ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Article by Karl Josef Klöhs in the Generalanzeiger Bonn on March 30, 2005 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de
  8. ↑ Kölnische Rundschau from April 8, 2009: KD with the Maltese flag
  9. ↑ Cologne-Düsseldorfer: Group interim report for the period from January 1 to March 31, 2013  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 33 kB)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.kd.de  
  10. ↑ Bonapart.de of March 28, 2011: Rheinfantasie launches
  11. ↑ Bonapart.de of May 6, 2011: Rheinfantasie: Christening despite little water
  12. ↑ KÖLN-DÜSSELDORFER Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG: Premicon Beteiligungs GmbH and shareholders related to Premicon sell their 97.32% stake in KÖLN-DÜSSELDORFER Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt AG to River Advice , September 21, 2016
  13. ↑ Introduction of squeeze-out under company law by KD River Invest GmbH , December 20, 2016
  14. ↑ Transfer report of KD River Investment GmbH as the main shareholder of Cologne-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt Aktiengesellschaft on the requirements for the transfer of the shares of the minority shareholders to KD River Invest GmbH and the adequacy of the cash compensation in accordance with Section 327c (2) sentence 1 of the German Stock Corporation Act (March 7, 2017 )
  15. ↑ Bonapart.de of December 2, 2013: KD issues profit participation rights worth 15 million euros
  16. ↑ kd-cy.com: Welcome on board 2014 (pdf)
  17. ↑ Annual report 2009 according to IFRS of Köln-Düsseldorfer, p. 8

History of passenger shipping on the Rhine