HAPAG and Norddeutscher Lloyd

Competition, co-operation & merger

On 27 May 1847, Hamburg merchants and shipowners found the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG). Ten years later, Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) is founded in Bremen on 20 February 1857. The founding of NDL marks the start of 113 years of rivalry, alternating between competition and co-operation.

SUCCESS WITH THE EMIGRATION BUSINESS

Both shipping companies concentrate on the transport of goods as well as on passenger transport, which becomes increasingly important in the course of the great emigration to the USA. On 19 June 1858, the BREMEN became the first NDL steamer to start regular scheduled services from Bremerhaven to New York. By the end of the 1860s, North German Lloyd had already risen to become the leading shipping company in Bremen's shipping industry. HAPAG also broke new ground when it opened the Emigrant City, a unique facility in the world, on the Veddel in Hamburg in 1905. Shortly before the start of the First World War, the HAPAG and NDL liner networks spanned the entire globe.

‘CONTAINER BOOM’ LEADS TO FUSION

During the First and Second World Wars, both shipping companies had to cope with the total loss of their fleets - and build new ones. In 1954, NDL resumes the passenger liner service to New York, while HAPAG concentrates on the freight business. 1968 HAPAG and NDL launch the first joint full container service across the Atlantic. The boom in container trade is on the horizon, which will fundamentally change shipping and the harbours. In order to be able to survive in the market against foreign competition in the future, the two North German shipping companies decide to merge in 1970 - Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft and Norddeutscher Lloyd become Hapag-Lloyd AG.