The class of fruit ships of North German Lloyd (NDL), known as the Lichtenstein class , consisted of two newly built cargo ships and one purchased ship. Since it was the second series after the end of the Second World War and also particularly profitable, the class marked an important step in the rebuilding of the shipping company.
After the Petersberg Agreement was signed in November 1949, the Allies' restrictions on the construction of seagoing ships were relaxed by the Potsdam Agreement . In Germany, cargo ships of up to 7,200 GRT were again allowed to be built and operated by German shipping companies. Almost immediately after the Rheinstein-class ships , Norddeutsche Lloyd ordered two reefer ships to resume its fruit service from the Canary Islands at Bremer Vulkan . The lead ship, the Lichtenstein , was launched on August 28, 1951. Liebenstein followed on September 27, 1951 . In 1966, Lloyd bought the Clary Thorden , built in Sweden in 1954 , and used her as the third ship in this service under the name Lindenstein . The first voyage of the MS "Lindenstein" under the Lloyd flag took place on October 30, 1965. The goal was the US Gulf / Mexico.
The ships were used in the lucrative fruit voyage from the Canary Islands, which the Lloyd operated alone in contrast to most of the other liner services of the time. In addition, the ships regularly served the freight service of Northern Brazil. The first two ships were registered with the Roland Line Schiffahrtsgesellschaft by 1959 and were then incorporated directly into the NDL. In 1966, the NDL incorporated Lindenstein, which had been acquired second-hand from Sweden, into the popular service to complete it. The first two ships were sold to the Filipino shipping company Go Thong & Co. in 1968. In 1970, when the NDL merged with HAPAG, Lindenstein became the joint property of the new Hapag-Lloyd and was sold to the Greek shipping company Neptunea Panoceanica SA the following year .
Later career
The most recently sold Lindenstein was sold again in 1976 and broken up in Kaohsiung in 1984. The two older ships initially ran as Don Camillo and Don Lorenzo , before they were passed on in 1974 to the Sulpicio Lines shipping company belonging to the Thong Group . The two ships went to Universal Shipping Lines, also from the Philippines, in 1977 . The Don Lorenzo continued to operate under the name Dona Julieta , burned down completely in Manila on June 30, 1977 and was aground there. As a total economic loss, the insurance company returned the ship to Sulpicio Lines in 1978, which initially wanted to have the ship repaired. In June 1984 the ship was finally sold to Caloocan for demolition. The Don Camillo finally went back to Sulpicio Lines in 1984 , stayed in service until 1988 and was then also canceled in Manila.
The ships
The freighter motor ships of the Lichtenstein class
