Shipping Lines

Numerous small and large shipping lines are located in Hamburg. Around 120 German shipping lines are headquartered in the city.

1st Place: Number of shipping lines in one city

Numerous small and large shipping lines are located in Hamburg. Around 120 German shipping lines are headquartered in the city. Furthermore, many foreign lines also have offices here. Thus Hamburg has the highest concentration of shipping lines. All in all, there are about 430 shipping lines in Germany.

1st Place: Number of ships in one homeport

Almost 1500 ships with a total capacity of over 46 million metric tons are registered in Hamburg. That accounts for about half of the German merchant marine.

The German merchant fleet is made up of 3371 ships. All in all, it has a capacity of 70.2 gross register tons.

Of these, about 645 freight and cargo ships sail under the German flag. An additional 2726 German ships sail under foreign flags.

The shipping lines are trying to increase the number of ships under the German flag and have documented this intention in connection with the national maritime conferences. The quota was fulfilled for the second time as of the end of 2008.

1st Place: Number of container ships for one country.

Germany is by far the leading country in terms its fleet of container ships. 1611 container ships are flying the German flag. German container vessels account for 35 percent of the worldwide container fleet.

3rd Place: Number of ships by tonnage

In regard to tonnage, Germany ranks third worldwide. Its share of the world merchant fleet amounts to around nine percent. German merchant shipping was able to grow considerably in recent years.

German customers currently have around 1300 ships on order. Among them are 484 container ships with a total capacity of 2.2 million TEU.

Trade Fair for Shipbuilding and Marine Technology The trade fair for shipbuilding and marine technology „SMM“ is held every two years in Hamburg. sThe leading fair for the maritime industry... view	Tribunal for the Law of the Sea The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea – the protector of the constitution of the seas – has been located in Hamburg-Nienstedten... view
Seemannsmission The work done by seamen’s missions and churches has a long tradition in Hamburg. There are a number of establishments that make sailors far... view	Safety The approach through the German Bight to the Elbe River is regulated by a modern monitoring system. Each approaching ship has to register... view
Tital gauge Here you will find the Gauge for Hamburg St. Pauli and Brunsbüttel. This is a service from Pegel-Online. $(document).ready(... view

News to the Topic

Ramsauer gives assurance of rapid aid for the Kiel Canal at...

18.03.2013 - 12:30

Infrastructural bottlenecks in port hinterland traffic are becoming increasingly acute, irrespective of the mode of transport, and are...

view

FAQ

What does it mean to “flag out” a ship?

Answer

Each vessel has to sail under the national flag of its port of registry. In the past, the port of registry was often the head office of the shipping company. This changed in the course of globalisation.

Seagoing ships and inland waterway vessels are registered in a national register of shipping and have to conform to that country’s regulations. Almost all the ships in the German merchant marine are registered in Germany. However, some of them have applied for special permission from the German authorities to sail under a foreign flag temporarily, as well. German ship owners make use of the possibility of flagging out in order to be able to offer competitive services on the world market.

The quality of the countries of registration is verified regularly. German ship owners only use flags on the so-called “white list,” which meet the highest safety standards.

What is a Jacob’s ladder?