Hamburg Süd

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Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft

Type	Private
Founded	1871
Headquarters	Hamburg, Germany
Key people	Dr. Klaus Meves (Chairman) Dr. Ottmar Gast (Deputy Chairman)
Industry	Transport
Products	Shipping Freight distribution Others
Revenue	US$ 40.07 billion 2006
Employees	4094 (2006)

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.

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 One cumulated in the loss of all Hamburg Sud's vessels, and the company was forced to begin again by chartering vessels. The early 1950's 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 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 cast, 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 Kriegsmarine (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 Lubeck bay, it was attacked by Royal Air Force 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

Hamburg Süd also owns Brazilian operator Alianca 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, The 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 SUD logo on the side.

The refrigerated boxes are white with the flag and navy blue lettering.

See also

• Containerisation

External links and References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hamburg Süd

• Official Site
• Rudolf A. Oetker KG Official Site
• Aliança Official Site