175 candles on the cake
These are early congratulations, since the first founding of the future Hapag-Lloyd took place on 27 May 1847 – almost exactly 175 years ago. Shipowners and merchants in Hamburg created the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hapag) that day.
It was not until 1970 that Hapag-Lloyd (HL) saw the light of day as the result of Hapag’s merger with Bremen-based North German Lloyd. Since 2000, HL has established itself as the last German carrier of global significance with the acquisitions of Canadian Pacific (2005), CSAV (2014), UASC (2017), Nile Dutch (2021) and the intended incorporation of the container liner business of DAL (2022).
Currently, Hapag-Lloyd is the fifth-largest container liner shipping company worldwide. The key figure in the company's development was director-general Albert Ballin (1857-1918), who transformed Hapag into the largest shipping line of its time, invented cruising, and led the emigration business in Hamburg to great heights. (sh)