Hamburg Sud
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The container ship Cap San Antonio heading to the Port of Hamburg, April 2014
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| Private | |
| Industry | Transport |
| Founded | 1871 |
| Headquarters | Hamburg, Germany |
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Key people
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Dr. Ottmar Gast (Chairman of the Executive Board) Peter Frederiksen, Heino Schmidt, Frank Smet, Arnt Vespermann (Members of Executive Board) |
| Products |
Shipping Freight distribution Others |
| Revenue | €5.470 billion 2012 |
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Number of employees
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4,512 (2012) |
| Website | www |
Hamburg Süd is a shipping line on the North-South ocean trade routes. Until 2016 it was part of the Oetker Group, a family-owned German conglomerate. On December 1, 2016 it was announced that A.P. Moller–Maersk Group's shipping division Maersk Line had signed an agreement to take over the company.
In 1871 Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft (Hamburg - South America Steam Shipping Company or Hamburg South America Line) was established by a conglomerate of 11 Hamburg-based merchant houses. Three steam-ships totalling 4,000 GRT provided a monthly shipping service to Brazil and Argentina.
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.
Hamburg Süd also owns Brazilian 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.
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Wikipedia