Hamburg Süd
Encyclopedia
Hamburg Süd is one of the key carriers on the North-South trade routes by ocean transportation. It is part of the Oetker Group, a family-owned German conglomerate.
Hamburg Süd also owns Brazil
ian operator Aliança and Spanish operator Ybarra Sud. It has taken over many companies over the years including Ellerman
, Kien Hung, South Seas Steamship, Deutsche-Nah-Ost-Linie, Royal Mail Line, Pacific Steam Navigation Company
, Swedish Laser Lines, Rotterdam Zuid-America Lijn (RZAL), Havenlijn and the Inter-America services of Crowley American Transport. In the past parts of Hamburg Süd has been known as Columbus Line. Since 2004 the services of Columbus Line are directly integrated into Hamburg-Süd. The current container fleet of dry boxes has a distinctive red color with a huge flag and white HAMBURG SÜD logo on the side.
The refrigerated boxes are white with the flag and navy blue lettering.
History
In 1871 Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft (Hamburg - South America Steamship Company or Hamburg South America Line) was established by a conglomerate of 11 Hamburg-based merchant houses. Three steam-ships of 4,000 GRT (Gross Registered Tons) capacity began sailing to Brazil and Argentina in a monthly shipping service. By 1914 the company was operating over 50 ships totaling approximately 325,000 GRT. World War I culminated in the loss of all Hamburg Süd's vessels, and the company was forced to begin again by chartering vessels. The early 1950s saw the company embark on tramp shipping and tanker shipping, and large growth of refrigerated cargoes. In 1955 the Dr. August Oetker company took the company over, and began rapid expansion of the liner and passenger services. The takeover of Deutsche Levante Linie in 1956 saw the company commence its first foray into the Mediterranean. 1957 saw liner services begin between North America and Australia/New Zealand, with the Columbus New Zealand being the first container ship to ply trade-lanes in the region in 1971, pioneering containerization in the Pacific.Roles in war
- The Cap Trafalgar was a brand-new passenger liner, having been completed only on March 1, 1914 and had commenced her maiden voyage only on March 10, 1914. Germany had lightly armed the vessel with two 10.5 cm guns and 6 heavy machine guns, and had removed one of the three steam-funnels and re-coloured the vessel to disguise it as a British liner. The vessel encountered the British fully armed ex-steam liner Carmania about 700 miles east off the Brazilian coast, near the island of Trinidade, at 9:30 a.m. on September 14, 1914. After a heated barrage of fire from both vessels, the Cap Trafalgar began listing to the left, then sunk bow-first.
- The Cap Arcona, initially the most beautiful passenger liner in its time, was converted to serve the KriegsmarineKriegsmarineThe Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
(German Navy) as a converted transport vessel in 1940. At the end of 1944 it was then commandeered as a troopship, primarily transporting refugees and prisoners of war along the Baltic Sea. Loaded with 4,500 prisoners at LübeckLübeckThe Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
bay, it was attacked by Royal Air ForceRoyal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Typhoons in an air-raid. The Cap Arcona remained capsized in Lübeck Bay until 1950 and was then taken apart by divers, over a period of years, and scrapped. The wreckage was registered and photographed in detail by Rolls Royce, who had produced the RAF rockets, to assess their effectiveness.
Corporate takeovers
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian operator Aliança and Spanish operator Ybarra Sud. It has taken over many companies over the years including Ellerman
Ellerman Lines
Ellerman Lines was a cargo and passenger shipping company that operated from the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. It was founded in the late nineteenth century, and continued to expand with the acquisition of smaller shipping lines until it became one of the largest shipping...
, Kien Hung, South Seas Steamship, Deutsche-Nah-Ost-Linie, Royal Mail Line, Pacific Steam Navigation Company
Pacific Steam Navigation Company
The Pacific Steam Navigation Company was a commercial shipping company that operated in the Pacific coast of South America, and was the first to use steam ships for commercial traffic in the Pacific Ocean.-History:...
, Swedish Laser Lines, Rotterdam Zuid-America Lijn (RZAL), Havenlijn and the Inter-America services of Crowley American Transport. In the past parts of Hamburg Süd has been known as Columbus Line. Since 2004 the services of Columbus Line are directly integrated into Hamburg-Süd. The current container fleet of dry boxes has a distinctive red color with a huge flag and white HAMBURG SÜD logo on the side.
The refrigerated boxes are white with the flag and navy blue lettering.