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The roots of heavy lift shipping

The Deutsche Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft ‘Hansa’ (D.D.G. ‘Hansa’) can be considered the global pioneer setting a landmark in the evolution of today’s heavy lift and break bulk shipping business. 1929 marked the birth-hour of geared heavy-lift shipping with the commissioning of the S/S ‘Lichtenfels’.

The Deutsche Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft ‘Hansa’ (German Steamship Company) was inaugurated on December 3, 1881 by reputed Bremer merchants, realizing the unbearable situation that large volumes of increasing import and export goods were transported mostly on foreign ships and hence bypassing significant business opportunities for them.

It was in February 1882 when ‘Hansa’s’ first steamship, the ‘Stolzenfels’, a rather big freighter purchased in England, commenced its first voyage from Newcastle to Singapore.

In March she was followed by the ‘Drachenfels’ shipping coal to Singapore. The names of the ‘Hansa’ vessels were based on German castles, palaces and the defense towers of Bremen and as such soon became part of the branding next to the core funnel brand ‘Hansa’. Due to this naming strategy the vessels were generally called the ‘Fels’-ships (rock-ships) and even a Rotterdam harbor basin was named ‘Felshaven’ honoring the frequent visits of Hansa ships. Other name endings were -burg, -eck, and -turm and often the name families were allocated to specific shipping routes.

The first liner services to be introduced were 1883 a Mediterranean service and a Baltic service. The larger steamers have initially been employed for tramp services until ‘Hansa’ introduced its first regular Asian liner service to Colombo and Calcutta. This was followed in the 1890’s first by a steam liner service to La Plate, Argentina and later by a liner service from the Mexican Gulf to Europe.

 

Becoming the leading freight carrier

 

Together with British and Scandinavian ship owners more liner services were opened and operated from North America, Scandinavia, via South Africa, and Dutch-India (today Indonesia) to Australia.  Early 1914 the ‘Hansa’ fleet proudly counted 66 steam ships and one motor vessel amounting to a total tonnage of 437.789 GRT. At that time ‘Hansa’ was the largest freight shipping company in the world and ranked number three amongst the other German shipping companies right behind NDL (North German Lloyd) and Hapag (Hamburg-Amerikanischen Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft) which later would merge their activities under the name Hapag-Lloyd AG in 1970.

The 1st World War hit hard on ‘Hansa’. Many ships were sunk, confiscated or rested in neutral ports.  After the war, the proud fleet diminished to one single small steam ship, the S/S ‘Soneck’ which recommenced service to Spain in August 1919 helping to restart business. With the first new building after the war, the S/S ‘Frauenfels’, the Indian liner service was picked up again in 1920 and later in 1922 was accomplished by a liner service to the Persian-Arab Gulf which became increasingly important for the shipping company.

 

Heavy lifting was born

 

With advancing engine technology the ‘Hansa’ fleet also welcomed five large motor vessels in the mid 1920’s, after having completed promising trials with the small M/V ‘Rolandseck’. Another highlight innovation of this decade marked the introduction of the S/S ‘Lichtenfels’, the first heavy-lift vessel in the world up to that date. The steam ship was delivered in 1929 and marks the birth of modern heavy lift shipping with a crane boom capable lifting up to 120 mt. The reason for this development was simple: ‘Hansa’ saw a growing demand of shipments of assembled locomotives to British India. The ‘Lichtenfels’ and her three sister vessels marked the beginning of D.D.G. ’Hansa’s’ heavy-lift activities which would from now on change the image of ‘Hansa’ to become the first heavy-lift transport specialist.

It was not for long when the global economic crisis kicked in and forced ‘Hansa’ to lay-up most of their ships by the end of 1931. A total of nineteen vessels were rested in Bremen, Bremerhaven and Hamburg by that time.  After the crisis ‘Hansa’ modernized its fleet by ordering nine large and fast motor vessels of which the first one, the ‘Ehrenfels’ was delivered by the A.G. Weser in 1936.

By the end of 1939 the D.D.G. ‘Hansa’ operated many regular services to the Indian subcontinent, a monthly cross trade from the USA to the Persian-Arab Gulf, and bi-monthly service from the USA to South and East Africa.

 

World Wars and global depression hitting hard

 

When World War II hit, one could observe that a much higher number of commercial ships were caught in military actions which also led to many ‘Hansa’ vessels being destroyed and sunk and the number of fallen ‘Hansa’ seafarers amounting to 144 people. Also the historic headquarter building at the Schlachte in Bremen got almost completely destroyed. The total loss by the end of November 1945 counted 56 vessels with a total capacity of 320.650 GRT, including three longboats and 13 barges.

When in 1946 the last large ocean going freighter got handed over to the allies, ‘Hansa’ was left with nothing but a few long boats and barges. In order to survive as shipping company ‘Hansa’ had to look for alternative employments. Such were found by providing a passenger service with the longboats on the river Weser and services to the Islands of Wangerooge and Helgoland.

The barges could be used for post war salvage services and towing services along the North sea coast. These activities generated enough money attracting the capital to eventually restart the actual shipping business in 1950 by purchasing three freight vessels which quickly led to the ‘Hansa’ flag waving again on the previously developed shipping routes. With the first new building series after the war, D.D.G. ‘Hansa’ focused again on their heavy lift expertise introducing the ‘Bärenfels’ type that featured a 165mt crane boom (later increased to lift 205mt), which gave the fleet a quite unique selling proposition at that time.

 

Driving innovations and heavy lifting

 

In co-operation with the ‘Stülcken’ yard in Hamburg ‘Hansa’ developed for its eight vessels of the new ‘Lichtenfels’ type the so called ‘Stülcken-heavy-lift-gear’ with its well known V-position of masts, leading the way for heavy lift designs in naval architecture for many years to come. Quite unique was the decks-layout of these new vessels. The wheelhouse was at the bow and the remaining buildups in the aft of the vessel. This unusual appearance led to the nickname ‘Picasso-ships’ of this heavy lift series.

 

In the mid sixties ‘Hansa’ participated in few innovative developments which were in its number and density quite unusual for traditionally conservative shipping companies, even for today’s considerations. In 1965 D.D.G.

‘Hansa’ engaged in providing supply vessels for drilling rigs in the North Sea and the Persian Gulf after having gained sufficient experience previously in operating a few for German Oil companies at that time. The supply business grew quickly and soon became an independent business segment, operating globally in cooperation with VTG AG Hamburg under the name OSA (Offshore Supply Association).

The heavy lift segment was blazing new trails with the retrofitting of the ‘Uhlenfels’ now catering own gear capable of lifting up to 550mt and the commissioning of the two special heavy lift cargo vessels ‘Mariaeck’ and ‘Brunneck’ in 1968 that could facilitate RoRo cargo handling up to 800mt.

Being innovative but not proven to be promising, ‘Hansa’ experimented with cargo handling of floating containers.

In another initiative the shipping company decided to switch its Trans-Atlantic liner service from multi-purpose vessels to container vessels. Diversification was the buzzword of that time.

By means of equity participations the shipping group tried to get involved in other shipping ventures and asset classes. Such participations included but were not limited to investments into a shipping line serving trades between South Africa and the Far East, a vessel burning chemical waste, gas tankers, and bulk carriers.

During the 1970’s the Arab import business picked up significantly. Initially beneficial this led to a congestion of port capacities in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Waiting times for berths were often exceeding months for regular cargo ships. However, RoRo ships were preferred in those ports which led ‘Hansa’ to build four large container RoRo vessels and commissioned them on its lines from the US East Coast and Europe to the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Together with its own dedicated terminals those were representing an integrated transport system.

 

The Demise

 

In April 1980 the shareholder’s equity melted down from 60 mln DM (Deutsche Mark) to 10 mln DM and a shareholder’s cash injection of 30 mln DM was given to secure the liquidity shortage. Still this could not prevent that the D.D.G. ‘Hansa’ had to announce a composition before bankruptcy on August 18, 1980. All shipping activities were terminated by December 31, 1980. The Liner services and the container vessels were taken over by Hapag-Lloyd AG, the supply vessels went to VTG AG.

A Greek shipping mogul bought a whole lot of the heavy lifters and operated them under the name ‘Hansa Heavy Lift’. The funnel brand D.D.G. ‘Hansa’ was sold in 1984 to a company called ‘Project Carries’. Going through many transactions, today the brand can be found under the umbrella of the ‘Deutsche Seereederei’, Rostock, in its entity ‘Interhansa AG’, before 2007 ‘Reederei Hansa AG’.

The collapse of D.D.G. ‘Hansa’ cannot be attributed to one single cause but can be seen as a result of a multitude of factors coming together to take effect on this tradition rich shipping company. One may mention the high dependency on trades to the Persian Gulf which broke down when Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in Iran, the high investments made in 1976/77 that led the company financially on thin ice, the weak US-Dollar that fueled this situation, and potentially other factors that have negatively impacted the adoptability of D.D.G. ‘Hansa’.

Today there is still a lot of sympathy for the D.D.G. ‘Hansa’. 

A circle of friends is still active in maintaining the memories and the heritage of this pioneering company, collecting old documents, pictures and other contemporary artifacts.

Written by Raymond Fisch  based on a summary of Holger Patzer 

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