DFDS

DFDS A/S

Type	Nasdaq Copenhagen: DFDS
Industry	Shipping and logistics
Founded	1866
Founder	Carl Frederik Tietgen
Headquarters	Copenhagen, Denmark
Number of locations	20 countries in Northern Europe
Key people	Niels Smedegaard, President & CEO Bent Østergaard, Chairman
Services	Freight transport (over sea, land and rail), ferry cruises, logistics.
Revenue	EUR 1.6 bn
Owner	Lauritzen Foundation 42,8%
Number of employees	5,100
Divisions	DFDS Seaways New Channel Company A/S
Website	www.dfds.com

DFDS is Northern Europe's largest shipping and logistics company. The company's name is an abbreviation of Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (literally The United Steamship Company). DFDS was founded in 1866, when C.F. Tietgen merged the three biggest Danish steamship companies of that day.

Although DFDS has generally concentrated on freight and passenger traffic on the North Sea and to the Baltic Sea, it has also operated freight services to the USA, South America and the Mediterranean in the past. Since the eighties, DFDS' focus for shipping has been northern Europe. Today, DFDS operates a network of 25 routes with 50 freight and passenger ships in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and the English Channel under the name DFDS Seaways. The rail and land based haulage and container activities are operated by DFDS Logistics.

The Start

Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab was formed on 11 December 1866 as a merger of the three biggest Danish steamship companies under the leadership of Danish financier Carl Frederik Tietgen. Operations began on 1 January 1867 with 19 ships with Copenhagen as the main starting point. The company's routes at the time were from Denmark to Norway, the Baltic, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Iceland and The Faeroe Islands, with ships carrying both freight and passengers. As the company grew, new connections were opened to Sweden, France, the Mediterranean and Black Sea, as well as North America and South America. In addition, DFDS operated various domestic services in Denmark. After continued expansion of the fleet in the 1880s, DFDS became one of the world's ten largest ship-owning companies. After the takeover of Dampskibsselskabet Thingvalla in 1898, the Scandinavian-American Line was established. The Scandinavian-American Line continued trading to the United States until 1935.

The Two World Wars

The First World War took a heavy toll on DFDS' fleet, with 26 ships lost. During the post-war depression, a further 30 ships were laid up. The company revived with the establishment of new routes, and by the mid-1920s, DFDS's fleet consisted of 124 ships with a combined tonnage of 233,364 GRT. The Second World War saw further losses to the company, with nine ships lost before the German invasion of Denmark in April 1940. A large number of DFDS ships fell into British hands after the German invasion, and they were used as troopships. German forces commandeered a total of 21 DFDS ships during the war. One DFDS ship, the Kronprins Frederik, was under construction when the war began. To prevent her usage by the Germans, vital engine parts were "lost", only to be discovered after the end of the war. In total, DFDS lost 31 ships during World War II, with a further three ships lost due to hitting mines after the end of the war. In 1948, 48 people drowned when KJØBENHAVN hit a mine. Five people lost their lives in the mine explosion of IVAR in 1949 and, as recently as 1950, FRIGGA sank, without loss of life, after having hit a mine. To replace some of the lost ships, a number of almost-completed motor ships, which had been laid up awaiting the end of the war, were made ready. Gradually, the routes that had been discontinued since the beginning of the war, were reopened.