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for longer than that. “My grandfather founded the company back in 1872, but the company was only en- tered in the commercial register in 1878,” explains Managing Director Horst Hagel. Established as a car- riage company and expanded to furniture transport several years later, it already began specialising in port handling operations for bulk cargo at Hamburg’s inland port in 1900.
At the beginning of the 1920s, a hundred railway cars could be handled in shift work every day. By the Sec- ond World War, the capacity of the company had grown tremendously – with numerous stables and furniture depots, around 60 horses, 90 carts and fur- niture vans, trucks and tractors, ten electric cranes as well as 6,500 square metres of roofed storage space and two commercial buildings. Since then, this impor- tant segment for the Port of Hamburg has been reor- ganised time and again.
For instance in 1968, due to the insufficient depth of the water and the increasing size of ships, the compa- ny moved from its former site at Hamburg’s inland port to Reiherstieg which offered a water depth of eight metres at the time. This was where dry and liq- uid bulk cargo – such as grain, coal, fertiliser, ore, oil- seeds and feed – were handled over the course of many years. The company has meanwhile specialised in fertiliser.
Originally, however, it wasn’t Horst Hagel, but his older brother – 12 years his senior – who took over the family busi- ness. When he became in- debted, Hagel took over the family company at the age of 47; he had previously worked for more than 10 years at Commerzbank as a trained shipping and chartering bro- ker. Hagel then restructured the business and continuous- ly grew it into the company we know today.
A multi-generational business For over 30 years, Hagel has been the third generation to manage the company to- gether with his wife Gisela – and since the 1990s with his daughters Sandra Reidock,
Catharina Kunz and his son Philip Hagel. Among the 15 employees in total are two grandchildren, now representing the fifth generation. However, there is no strict division of tasks at the traditional company. “Everyone does every-thing here,” emphasises Rei- dock.
At 84 years of age, Hagel still works at the company every day and continues to take little holiday. From his office on the
first floor of
the building,
which was
extended four
years ago, he
can look out
onto the family business that has developed into the fertiliser terminal today – in large part thanks to him.
During our visit, from the southern window of the of- fice building, he sees a train carrying 1,700 tonnes of fertiliser produced by Domo Caproleuna in Leuna, Saxony-Anhalt. The 26 rail cars contain ammonium sulphate – required in agriculture – that is currently being unloaded by four employees. “On the screen, I can see at a glance whether all the processes are run- ning smoothly,” says Hagel. After all, many processes have also long been completely digitised in bulk cargo handling. “But we still need people to unload the car-
PORT OF HAMBURG MAGAZINE 2/24 ALL-PURPOSE PORT
PAGE 23
Horst und Gisela Hagel
Managing Directors at Louis Hagel
Louis Hagel embodies the principle of the all-purpose port. After all, accoun- ting for around 32 percent, bulk cargo
provides an important contribution to the handling capacity of the Port of Hamburg.
© Louis Hagel
© HHM / Claudia Behrend