Unterweser shipping company

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Unterweser Reederei GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 1890
Seat Bremen Germany
GermanyGermany 
management Antonio Bordils Montero
Branch Shipping company
Website www.urag.de

The Unterweser Reederei GmbH (URAG) was founded in 1890 as a towage company Unterweser (SGUW) in Bremen founded in 1922 Aktiengesellschaft Unterweser Reederei renamed.

history

Founded in 1890

Piling work to correct the Weser between 1887 and 1895

The company was founded by Bremen merchants in 1890 with a capital of 500,000 marks under the name Schleppschifffahrtsgesellschaft Unterweser (SGUW), since the Weser correction began in July 1887 and was required for the increasing ship traffic to Bremen. For a long time larger ships had to be lightened in barges that were towed by tugs to Bremen. In 1891 the fleet included eight tugs with a total of around 975 hp and ten barges with a total of around 3,000 tdw. After the Dortmund-Ems Canal was completed, a canal fleet of 16 sea barges, six canal barges and one sea tug was procured and used here. Around 1900, the SGUW began lighter traffic for the Baltic Sea, and four more tugboats and seaworthy barges were purchased. In 1912, 29 tugboats and around 50 lighters were already in service for the SGUW.

Tugs and cargo steamers

With the Weser , the company acquired the first freight steamer at the beginning of 1915 in order not to limit the transport of goods to just light traffic. The First World War reduced the fleet, but the "Canal Fleet" was sold shortly before the outbreak of war. The freighter Weser had to be delivered after the war. The metal company acquired the first shares of SGUW; In 1920 she owned the majority of the shares. Three cargo ships, the Bockenheim , Gonzenheim and Heddernheim, were bought to take over the ore transport for the metal company. In 1922, the company was renamed Unterweser Reederei Aktiengesellschaft , which is generally known under the short form URAG, to document that it is not only tugboat shipping .

In the next few years with inflation, the Third Reich with foreign exchange control and synchronization, URAG was able to further expand and modernize its fleet. The fleet was further restructured and modernized. In 1936 a branch was founded in Hamburg . Like most shipping companies, URAG was surprised by the outbreak of war. Therefore, the Gonzenheim, angered by the English, was lost.

Eschersheim in roadstead in front of Egmont Key, Florida
Eschersheim as seen from Hahnentor in front of the phosphate plant in Tampa, Florida

Reconstruction of the tug and freighter fleet

The fact that Bremerhaven became an American supply port after the Second World War was a stroke of luck for URAG. In addition to the towing services, the freighter fleet was expanded again. In 1953 URAG had 18 tugs and the total load capacity of the freighters was 65,000 tdw. As part of constant modernization, the Voith Schneider drive was introduced for new tugs from 1959 . The shipping company valued the advantages highly, so that this drive has now become the standard drive for the URAG tugs. In addition to the normal towing activity in the ports, an increasing number of towing orders were accepted overseas, which were carried out with the most powerful tugs. While the shipping company's first tugs had around 100 hp, the performance had meanwhile increased by a factor of 15, while the overseas tugs even had around 4,000 hp.

In 1962 the two bulk carriers MS Eckenheim and MS Langelsheim were put into service. Other ships were: MS Ginnheim , MS Berkerheim , MS Praunheim (Bulk Carrier), MS Eckenheim (Bulk Carrier) and MS Langelsheim - all again named after locations in the Frankfurt area and also bulk carriers.

Change of ownership

In 1989, the 100 percent share in URAG was transferred from Metallgesellschaft to Lehnkering Montan Transport (today VTG-Lehnkering AG). URAG took over 100% of the tug shipping company Lütgens & Reimers (L&R) from Hapag-Lloyd and 20% of the tug fleet from Norddeutscher Lloyd .

In 1999 Lehnkering Montan Transport became part of the Preussag Group of Hapag-Lloyd AG .

In 2001, the URAG with the shipping association Forschungsschiffahrt and the Wiking Helikopter Service were sold to the medium-sized family company Linnhoff Schiffahrt in Buxtehude .

In 2016/2017, Linnhoff Schiffahrt sold its tug shipping companies URAG and Lütgens & Reimers (L&R) to the Spanish shipping company Boluda Corporación Marítima , which already has a fleet of over 200 tugs operating in ports in Spain, France, North Africa and Latin America. The new company Boluda Germany was founded in Bremen to manage the two towing companies in Germany .

Service and fleet

The Hamburg tractor Accurat from Lütgens & Reimers
Voith-Schneider drive

URAG's main field of activity is tug assistance in the ports of Bremerhaven, Bremen , Nordenham , Brake and Wilhelmshaven . In addition to the harbor tugs, URAG has several ships that can also be used on the high seas for the recovery and support of offshore structures.

The subsidiary Lütgens & Reimers today has a fleet of five Voith Schneider tugs. The Accurat , chartered by URAG, and the Constant are currently used as seagoing ship assistance in the Port of Hamburg , on the Lower Elbe and in Bützfleth . Three more tugs, the Brake , the Grohn and the Turm are in bareboat charter with URAG. Three mooring boats and mooring cars are operated for the mooring service.

Surname Construction year measurement Bollard pull power Range of use Ship details
Accurat 1993 368 GT 46 tbp 3200 kW Port, long-haul and salvage tugs
Berne 1985 229 GT 25.5 tbp 1600 kW Harbor and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 572 kB)
Blinking 1988 219 GT 25.5 tbp 1600 kW Harbor and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 673 kB)
Blumenthal 1990 219 GT 30.4 tbp 2000 kW Harbor and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 684 kB)
Brake 1983 218 NRZ 25.5 tbp 1600 kW Harbor and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 1 MB)
Bremen 1993 358 GT 46 tbp 3200 kW Port, long-haul and salvage tugs
Bremen Fighter 2004 1262 GT 120 tbp 5940 kW Anchor handling tug Data sheet (PDF; 703 kB)
Bremerhaven 1993 358 GT 46 tbp 3200 kW Port, long-haul and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 545 kB)
Constant 1987 218 GT 30.5 tbp 3680 kW Harbor and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 314 kB)
Geeste 2010 377 GT 90 tbp 5304 kW Port, long-haul and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 2.1 MB)
Hunte 2010 377 GT 90 tbp 5304 kW Port, long-haul and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 2.1 MB)
jade 2000 518 GT 71 tbp 5000 kW Port, long-haul and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 764 kB)
Red sand 1976 256 GT 34 tbp 1764 kW Port, long-haul and salvage tugs
tower 2001 452 GT 54 tbp 3744 kW Port, long-haul and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 680 kB)
Weser 2000 518 GT 71 tbp 5000 kW Port, long-haul and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 601 kB)
Wilhelmshaven 1998 359 GT 51 tbp 3690 kW Harbor and salvage tugs Data sheet (PDF; 973 kB)

gallery

  • Accurat

  • Berne

  • Blinking

  • Bremerhaven

  • "Bremerhaven" and "Turm" in Bremerhaven

  • jade

  • Red sand

  • tower

  • Weser

  • Wilhelmshaven

literature

Web links

Commons : Unterweser Reederei  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Linnhoff sells towing companies URAG and L&R , Hansa International Maritime Journal, December 5, 2016.
  2. ↑ Kristian Förster: Linhoff separates from URAG and L&R . In: Hansa , issue 1/2017, pp. 36/37.
  3. ↑ Wolfhart Fabarius: Sale of URAG and L&R sealed · Tug already under the flag of the new owner Boluda · Management company founded . In: Daily port report of February 23, 2017, p. 4