F. Laeisz
| partnership | |
| Industry | shipping, trade, insurance |
| Founded | Hamburg, Germany (March 24, 1824) |
| Founder | Ferdinand Laeisz |
| Headquarters | Hamburg, Germany |
|
Number of locations
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4 locations (Hamburg, Rostock, Bremerhaven and Grabow) |
| Owner | Nikolaus W. Schües, Nikolaus H. Schües (CEO) |
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Number of employees
|
1,250 |
| Website | http://www.laeisz.de |
F. Laeisz (pronounce lyze; short FL), is an old established and today still active shipping company (present offices in Hamburg, Rostock, Bremerhaven and Grabow, Germany, as well as Japan and Philippines)
The firm was established by Ferdinand Laeisz on 24 March 1824 as a production company for tall hats. Expansion to overseas markets enabled him to purchase in 1839 the brig “Carl”, named after his son, who joined the firm as partner on 1 March 1852. 1857 the first new building was commissioned, a wooden barque named “Pudel” after Carl’s wife Sophie Laeisz. Sophie’s nickname followed her hairstyle.
All following own new buildings after 1861 were christened with names starting with a “P”. This is the reason why British seamen called the company “P-Line”. Carl Laeisz credo was “My ships can and must perform fast voyages.” and this stood for reliability and speed of his tall ships, consequently they became famous as “Flying P-Liner”.
1892 F. Laeisz purchased its first iron steamship (Hamburg, renamed Naxos) from the Hamburg-Südamerikanischen Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft (co-founded by Laeisz 1871) which was employed by Deutsche Levante Linie (DLL, co-founded by Laeisz 1889). By and by a market position developed through establishing further steamship lines (like 1847 co-founder Hapag, 1874 co-founder Deutsch-Australische Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft, 1886 co-founder Woermann-Linie, 1890 co-founder Deutsch-Ost-Afrika-Linie)
The companies which were co-founded were progressively trading with steamships, while Laeisz continued the tall ship tradition which generated fame and profit with the nitrate trade from Chile. Until the end of the nineteen twenties Laeisz kept its engagement in the Chile trade with nitrate until it became possible to produce nitrate by the Haber-Bosch-System and the Chile trade came to an end.
1897/98 the Laeiszhof was built at Trostbrücke 1 in Hamburg, a landmark building, which is until today the head office of the company.
1914 the first banana reefer ships “Pioneer” and “Pungo” were ordered for the Afrikanische Frucht-Companie established 1912 by F. Laeisz. The outbreak of World War Ⅰ made it impossible for the company to commission these two ships for employment in its own banana trade. With “Poseidon” Laeisz commissioned 1923 its first Steamer for its own liner service to the SAWC and 1926 the last four-masted barque Padua was built for FL. This newbuilding signaled the end of the Flying P-Liner area which terminated with the end of World War II when “Padua” was given to the USSR, still trading as “Krusenstern” to this day.
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Wikipedia