No.18 | June 2015

CORPORATE INFORMATION OF THE F. LAEISZ GROUPISSUE NO. 18 | JUNE 2015

YARA INTERNATIONAL AWARDS REEDEREI F. LAEISZ WITH THE SHIPMANAGEMENT OF THEIR NEW BUILDING PROGRAMMEReederei F. Laeisz has been awarded with the ship management of Yara’s LPG newbuildings. Following 25 years of close and successful co-operation between Yara International, being the global leader in the production and distribution of mineral fertilizer as well as the biggest trader/transporter of ammonia, and F. Laeisz, an agree-ment has been signed for the newbuilding super-vision and ship management of Yara’s two 38.000 cbm and three 20.600 cbm LPG – Carriers to be constructed at Hyundai Mipo Dockyards in Korea.

“The basis for our decision is the quality, the re-sponsiveness, and the knowledge of our systems that F. Laeisz has demonstrated over the past 25 years, ever since we first chartered LPG Carrier M/V “Bussewitz” back in 1991”, said Frederik Schütz, Global Head of Supply Chain Procurement at Yara.This contract is an important step for us to in-crease our industrial service business in shipping segments with barriers of entry, possibilities of differentiation and high quality awareness.

EDITORIAL

BOOK REVIEWS

DER GEFRORENE OZEANPublished by Peter Lemke/ Stephanie von Neuhoff, 2014

N. H. Schües

Yours truly,

DEAR FRIENDS OF F. LAEISZ

More book reviews on page 12

Summer is coming! Though the crisis is far from over there are clear signs of recovery in some segments that are of importance to us. Subpanmax containers are firming, car carrier prospects are improving and gas carriers hold stable at satisfactory levels. Only for bulkers forecasts remain lousy, which again proves our strategy correct: Diversify in unrelated seg-ments, it does not make you rich, but it helps to survive.

Scan QR-Codewith your mobileand download the Fleet News atwww.laeisz.de

SPMS Partner MeetingSee page 2

150th Anniversary of Sea RescuersSee page 5

Signing Ceremony in BremerhavenSee page 3

MEETING PRESIDENT OF KIRIBATI 150 YEARS DGZRSPOLARSTERN II

GENERAL ARRANGEMENT

20,6K BAU NR. 8173/174/175

GENERAL ARRANGEMENT

38K BAU NR. 8170/171

CORPORATE INFORMATION OF THE F. LAEISZ GROUPISSUE NO. 18 | JUNE 2015 | PAGE 2

LUNCH WITH HEAD OF STATE OF SAMOA MR. TUI ATUA TUPUA TAMASESE EFI AND MEETING WITH KIRIBATI PRESIDENT AND SPMS PARTNERS IN HAMBURGHis Excellency Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi visited Germany in 2014 and was welcomed in Schloss Bellevue by H.E. President Joa-chim Gauck for lunch. Niko Schües partici-pated and extended our appreciation for the great cooperation.Earlier this year his Excellency Anote Tong came to Hamburg for a courtesy visit and met with South Pacific Marine Service (SPMS) partners. SPMS presently consists of six Hamburg based shipping companies namely: Hamburg Süd, F. Laeisz, Reederei Nord, Leonhardt & Blumberg, Aug. Bolten and Fisser & v. Dornum. For almost 50 years SPMS has now trained and employed seafa-rers from Kiribati. Right now more than 700 seafarers are on board SPMS vessels while

Laeisz has a share of around 175 seafarers. Total employment was well above 1000 some years ago, but the shipping crisis didn’t stop in Kiribati. Fortunately in 2015 employment statistics show a more positive trend, also because of better and more reliable flight connections within the Pacific region. Prior to his visit to Hamburg the Kiribati Pre-sident followed an invitation for an audience with Pope Franzis-kus in Rome. Besi-de others, climate change was one of the main topics on the agenda. The President trusts on

the support and influence of Pope Franzis-kus to help Kiribati and other small island nations to reach achievements in UN confe-rences combatting global warming. We shall continue to offer support by offe-ring employment and appreciate the daily efforts of our Kiribati colleagues on board of our ships.

SPMS Partners with Kiribati President

from the left: Kiribati President Mr. Anote Tong and Nikolaus W. Schües

from the left: Mr. Joachim Gauck/ President of Germany, Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi/Head of state of Samoa, Mr. Nikolaus H. Schües/CEO


In summer 2014 Reederei F. Laeisz sig-ned a contract for the building supervision and the ship management of the new re-search icebreaker RV ”Polarstern II” as well as for the Neumayer Station III to-gether with representatives of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven. The management contract covers a period of at least six years after delivery of the vessel, which is planned to take place in 2019. The present research icebreaker RV ”Polar-stern” has been in service since December 1982. RV “Polarstern“ has taken people and material to the Arctic and Antarctic Ocean, covering more than 1.5 million nautical mi-les, in over 31 years. That corresponds to a distance of over 2.7 million kilometres and thus more than 67 circumnavigations of the

POLARSTERN II

from left: Dr. Uwe Nixdorf/Administration director, Mr. Roland Pallutz/Commercial Director, Mrs. Karin Lochte/Managing Director, Nikolaus H. Schües/CEO

globe at the equator. Reederei F. Laeisz took over the management of RV “Polarstern” on 1 January 1996.But even before RV “Polarstern II” goes into operation, Reederei F. Laeisz will play a special role. In the framework of a Euro-pe-wide public tender procedure, conduc-ted by BMBF, Reederei F. Laeisz was awar-ded with a contract for consulting services regarding the shipbuilding design. The ex-perience of our company in operating ice-breakers was a key factor for the contract award. A special Reederei-team led by Capt. Uwe Pahl, former master of RV “Po-larstern” for many years, will contribute practical experiences from the operating of the vessel into the design and building of RV “Polarstern II”.

GL 5 STAR EXCELLENCEOur shipping company F. Laeisz with offi-ces in Hamburg, Rostock and Bremerhaven has received the “GL Excellence – 5 Stars” certificate of Germanischer Lloyd in Februa-ry 2008 and keeps it till now. It is awarded for the introduction of high and up-to-date safety, environment protection and quality standards. International standards and ma-nagement systems improve and constantly monitor safety, environmental compatibility as well as operation processes of vessels. The “GL Excellence” certificate of Germanischer Lloyd documents the implementation of such standards – both obligatory and voluntary ones. Consequently, organisations can prove

their voluntary commitment to better quality, reliability, safety and social compatibility by presenting an independent certificate. Com-panies are entitled to receive the “GL Excel-lence – 5 Stars” certificate if they meet the obligatory requirements – amongst others at least five management systems such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, Occupational Health & Safety, Maritime Social Responsibility Stan-dard, the ISM and the ISPS Code. Our com-pany F. Laeisz has received the certificate for the GL classed fleet of containerships, gas tankers, car carrier and research vessels. The management systems ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 as well as the ISM Code, ISPS Codes

and the Occupational Health & Safety have been implemented successfully on all Laeisz vessels. In addition, the introduction of an in-dustrial safety management system has been verified and F. Laeisz has also registered for the Emergency Response Service of Germa-nischer Lloyd. Therefore, “GL Excellence” serves as evidence for reliable ship operation and documents the compliance of above-ave-rage safety and quality standards. The “GL Excellence – 5 Stars” certification is verified every three years along with ISM and ISO audits. We work for every success in future, and that we can maintain this high level of standard.

GL Excellence certificate

Foto

: Ott

oWul

ff B

ID G

esel

lsch

aft m

bH


Looking for new office premises in Bremerhaven, we at F. Laeisz took the opportunity to buy the Schuchmann Villa from BG Verkehr in July 2014. It is especially important to us and we therefore take special care to renovate the villa very care-fully in order to preserve the authentic character of the building, not least because it was built for the Schuchmann family, today related to our ow-ners, the Schües family.Our colleagues in the Bremerhaven branch office are very delighted to move into their new offices and to perform their management service for the research icebreaker RV „Polarstern“ as well as for the Neumayer Station III from such a historic site. We expect to move to the new office in June of this year.The villa at the Bartelstraße in Bremerhaven Geestemünde with the mighty columns to the right and left of the entrance was built in 1922 by the Schuchmann family. The beautiful villa located at one of the oldest docks, south of Geeste, forms together with the former Principal Customs Office, the historic canal swing bridge and the headquarters of the „North Sea“ one of the most visually attractive ensembles in Bre-merhaven. On the quay in front of the villa were not only Schuchmann tugs safely moored, but also the famous tall ship „Potosi“, one of the fa-mous „Flying P-Liner“.

OUR NEW OFFICE IN BREMERHAVEN

LAEISZHOF IS PART OF THE BID NIKOLAIQUARTIER

Laeiszhof, our historic office building in Hamburg, is part of the BID Nikolai-quartier. In this Business Improvement District all real estate owners are investing together in new and wider pedestrian walks, lighting, chairs and banks to sit on as well as plants and trees. On 18th March 2015 the works were officially started. All around Laeiszhof pedestrian walks will be enlarged, parking zones reduced and quite a few trees will be planted to give the sur-roundings the feeling of an almost park-like large open space rather than simply a street. We wish the common effort of the BID Nikolaiquartier every success.

BID Nikolai Quartier foundation stone

OUR NEW OFFICE IN GRABOWOn 1st April 2014 a reception marked the official opening of Reederei F. Laeisz G.m.b.H. ́ s newest office in Grabow/Mecklenburg. The historic building, built in 1787 by the Grand Duke Frie-drich Franz I, was acquired by F. Laeisz and now, after renovation, offers modern office space in historic ambiance. Grabow, the home town of

our CFO Annette Schroeder-Smakman, was cho-sen for being situated conveniently half way be-tween our offices in Hamburg and Rostock. Sev-eral shipping and non shipping activities of F. Laeisz group are now managed from Grabow un-der the leadership of Annette Schroeder-Smak-man and Volker Redersborg.


This year the German Society for Saving Lives from Emergencies at Sea celebrates it’s 150th anniversary. Throughout these years F. Laeisz has always been – and still is – closely linked to the „Sea Rescuers“

In 1861 F. Laeisz founded the Hamburgische Rettungsverein that beca-me founding member of the German society in 1865. The Hamburg based representation started in our office building at Trostbrücke 1 and still is there today. Capt. Ralf Krogmann organizes from here PR and fundraising and our colleague Mr. Klaus Stüwe, who works together with Mr. Ralph Leineweber and takes care of our small island Kirr on the Baltic coast, are among of the voluntary „Sea Rescuer“ for 25 years, who – in case of need – selflessly risk their own life’s to save others.

150 YEARS DGZRS Mr. Klaus Stüwe in his „German Society for

Saving Lives from Emergencies at Sea“

uniform. He is member since 1990

of the society.

Life saving ship „Hamburg I“/photo probably from the year 1920

Life saving ship from today, M/V “Hannes Glogner“


ANNIVERSARIES 2015 | CONGRATULATIONS!

ASHORE

10 years Carola Titze, Felix Riess, Udo Wolf, Maria Stüwe

25 years Dagmar Tempel

30 years Christine Wichmann, Uwe Hauer, Annett Krüger, Heike Dembeck

40 years Ruth Ohlrich, Birgit Reimann, Thomas Hundt, Veronika Topitsch

45 years Peter Winter

ON BOARD

10 years Yong Sheng Sun, Kai- Stephan Böhlen, Michael Maaß, Henning Westphal, Henrik Stolze, Uwe Wende

25 years Andreas Sedlak, Fred Klum

30 years Tom Kohler, Christoph Schröder, Michael Fölster

40 years Michael Martens, Martin Fleischer, Holger Fallei, Holger Petrat, Jürgen Schramm, Eckhard Kroesche

45 years Dieter Klitz, Lothar Gladow, Joachim Luckow, Lutz Klatt, Georg Jasmand

BIRTHDAYS 2015 | CONGRATULATIONS!

ASHORE

60 years Elke Duckstein, Ingrid Taube, Dagmar Degenkolb, Dorothea Fischer, Stefan Werner, Klaus Stüwe

65 years Klaus Wunderlich, Manfred Strobach, Renate Panter

ON BOARD

50 years Igor Reshetov, Sergey Skorokhodov, Sergei Selin, Efren Natividad Awat, Sergey Kudryashov, Roberto Rodenas Oblipias, Joseph Arturo Estraza, Aladino Jr. Dalaorao Alolor, Andrey Kulbakov, Joel Remolacio Ranara, Frank Wienekamp, Alesandro Olita Yap, Quan Lun Chen, Laurence Delica Ramos, Joseph Isidro Hipolito, York Koch, Vladimir Tikhomirov, Joerg Preussner, Andrey Glebov, Bernardo Jr. Tadios Vendiola

60 years Ralf- Dieter Müller- Homburg, Joerg–Michael Griese, Martin Froeb, Detlef Landmann, Mario Zumarraga Fernandez, Detlef Beth, Andreas Deckner, Sergey Pustotin, Rolf Egon Woesthoff, Joerg Suhnel, Eckhard Puschmann, Bernd Farysch, Wilfredo Villaco Talaoc

65 years Werner Hampf, Anatoly Mozhaev, Pedro Nuneza, Heino Wendt, Nikolay Romanov, Norbert Spilok, Siegfried Forster

45 YEARS ASHORE

A CAREER FOR THE SEA

After more than 40 years with our company, Peter Geitmann joins Ver.di. When Mr. Geitmann joined Deutsche Seereederei in September 1973 for sure he did not expect to become a decisive figure in the present struggle to safeguard German sea personal also for the future. After almost 20 years at sea he joined our workers‘council and proved a firm but trustworthy representative of our seamen’s interest. Peter Geitmann now joined Ver.di to become secretary for ship-ping affairs. Though the tasks of the unions and the ones of our company may not always be aligned and the routes may be different, in the end we share the same goal: to keep German seamanship alive in order to safeguard knowhow for future generations.

45 YEARS ON BOARD

Lothar Gladow

Georg Jasmand Lutz Klatt Joachim Luckow

Dieter Klitz

Peter Winter


BRIDGES – OUR NEXT PHOTO CONTESTAll readers of Fleet News are invited to join our next photo contest covering the theme „Bridges“.

Compact Digital Camera 220,- Euro

Smart Phone 120,- Euro

Archaeology of Bridges (German / English) 50,- Euro

We will expect your photos of Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rialto Bridge in Venice or Köhlbrand-Bridge in Hamburg or any other bridge you feel you have taken a good picture

of. The best three entries will be announced in the next edition. As in previous contests

we need your name, address and e-mail

as well as the photo title and the date when it was taken. All images published will credit your name. Again only digital entries can be ac-cepted. Closing date is the 31st August 2015.

Please send your photos to [email protected]. We look forward getting many „bridges“.

1.Price:

2.Price:

3.Price:

*these picture of the camera is not the price which you will win at our photo contest it is only for promotion purposes

MECKLENBURGER FESTSPIELE

Reederei F. Laeisz GmbH has been spon-soring the Audience Award of the Fest-spiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a classic music festival, for many years now. Every year young musicians enter the competition for being voted Best Musician by the audi-ence. On 24th August 2014 the prize was awarded to the brothers Arthur and Lucas Jussen for their joint piano performance in 2013. The prize giving ceremony was part of a concert called Piano Summit that took place in the picturesque town of Putbus on the island of Rügen. With Menahem Pressler (*1923), brothers Hans-Peter (*1960) and Volker Stenzl and of course the Jussen Brothers, aged 17 and 19 years, three generations of fantastic pianists amazed the audience. The prize was hand-ed over by our Chief Financial Officer Mrs. Annette Schroeder-Smakman.

Picture from the left: Mrs. Anette Schroeder-Smakmann, Arthur and Lucas Jussen

100.000 RUNNING HOURS - A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE

Five vessels in our fleet have achieved more than 100.000 running hours on their main engines. Namely these are M/V „Pusan“, M/V „Hanjin Mundra” (Penang), M/V „Hanjin Haiphong” (Peking), M/V “Hanjin San Diego” (Portland) and M/V „Portugal“. The ves-sels were built at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in Ulsan, Korea in 1997/98. The main engines are MAN Diesel & Turbo and were manufactured by HHI Engine Manufactur-ing Department (HHI EMD). The engine type is 9K90MC-C MK V delivering an output of

41.040 kilowatt at 104 revolutions per min-ute. The engine type indicates that it is an engine with nine cylinder units and a bore of 90 centimetres.Honouring the 100.000 running hours on the said vessels Dr. Tilmann Greiner, Head of MAN Diesel & Turbo, Hamburg handed over brass plaques of remembrance to Harald Schlot-feldt, Managing Technical Director of Reederei F. Laeisz. The event took place in the famous International Maritime Museum in the historic warehouse district in the port of Hamburg.

from the left: Mr. Harald Schlotfeldt/Technical Director and Mr. Dr. Tilmann Greiner, Head of MAN Diesel


MY VOYAGE ON M/V „PASSAMA“ WRITTEN BY WOLFGANG P. SCHÜES

The flight from Hamburg via Frankfurt to Bo-gota and from there to Cartagena was on time on the 24th January 2015. The taxi driver, how-ever, who was sent by the agent to pick me up could neither read nor write. Amongst the crowd in the arrival hall I spotted a man holding a sign in his hands: “Eva Schulz”. It was obviously not me whom he was looking for. Somewhat embar-rassed I chose another taxi. Upon arrival at the hotel the agent’s taxi driver came up to me hold-ing his plate with my name on it. “Sorry Sir…” he simply mixed up the names.My ship – the M/V “PASSAMA” – was a couple of days late, because of a delayed departure from Houston.Well, my first obligation was to visit the immigra-tion office in order to get the departure stamp in my passport. Back at the hotel, well after mid-night, I was told to wait. It was 2.00 a.m. on 29th January when the same taxi driver, who had missed me at the airport some days ago, came to pick me up.Hurrah, hurrah, off we go to Cartagena port. One can hardly believe the hellish taxi drive I was now in. At night all red traffic lights are systematically ignored in Cartagena. However, sitting in a little motorcar speeding at more than 100 km/h, reg-gae music on full blast, through narrow bumpy roads – it was the fastest taxi drive I ever experi-enced. I was thinking of Sebastian Vettel.

My prayers were heard and we finally reached the port gate. The taxi driver with a smile offloaded my suit case, went off quickly and left me with a custom officer who by all means was not amused to deal with a tourist in the earliest morning hours or better: in the middle of the night.The questions he asked me I simply could not an-swer, obviously due to my very limited knowledge of the Spanish language. He was, however, kind enough as to offer me his little plastic chair. Some time went by when a young rather tired water clerk arrived and to my surprise a boarder police officer showed up as well. It must have been great fun for this young policeman to rifle through my neatly folded laundry. I asked the water clerk “What is this all around?” The answer: “Drugs”. A major problem in Colombia! After passing the control there she was: M/V “PASSAMA”.A warm welcome on board was extended to me by the master, Capt. Tena and his chief mate Mr. Medalla, the latter led me to my cabin. Although this was a bit smaller than I had ex-pected. It was a very cosy “state room” after all. Come to think of it. All you need is a bed, a sofa, a table and a desk to write on and a shower of course!I was fast asleep when we departed at 6.30 a.m. Master and deck officers were Filipinos whereas the engine room was in the command of Rus-sians. Without exception extremely nice men,

very friendly and polite. No wonder – I am pas-senger on a F. LAEISZ vessel!It was not far to our first port of call Manzanillo, Panama. Actually we were instructed to go at anchorage, however, all of a sudden a new or-der: “Pilot will board any minute from now.” But shortly thereafter: “Wait.” This wonderful word I had to learn already on my many trips around the continent of Africa and China. However, I had al-most forgotten over the past years of retirement living in a punctual world. In South America I had to get used to do it again. Pilot boarding was set for midnight and from that moment on I was really flabbergasted. Remember M/V “PASSA-MA” is a huge car carrier and of enormous size, and to bring such a “monster” safely alongside its berth by the pilot and the master is an admi-rable piece of work. The last 8 m to bring the vessel safely alongside (despite a strong wind) took almost 45 minutes. Whilst writing these notes steward Oscar knocks at my cabin door and brought my laundry washed and pressed, what top Asiatic service! It was not worth to went ashore since the loading was completed within a few hours. Comes mid-night, we were off again. Next port was Aruba, Netherlands Antilles. The ship started rolling heavily, but I fell asleep like a baby. Next morn-ing: Sunshine, lots of wind again and 30° C. Time to find a shadow place and to make yourself

from the left: Captain Radito S. Tena, Wolfgang P. Schües, Chief Officer Noel E. Medalla


comfortable in a deck chair. Walking on deck was not that easy because of the wind and constant movement of the vessel. My dear wife at home in Hamburg will be glad to read that I was eating lots of greens and fruit. Very little carbohydrates! I must not put on weight! (That’s what she told me when we said good bye.) The master, Capt. Tena, is of middle size and he is permanently fighting the excess kilos. Chief mate Mr. Medalla young and smart. Second and Third Officers are quite young. All of them are skilfully and are aware of their responsibilities. They are well mannered, very kind and always ready to explain things when being asked. Apart from their duties they were al-ways ready for a joke and laughter. At 6.30 p.m. 2.5 miles off Aruba the pilot was boarding. The poor man, he became soaking wet by entering the pilot ladder, well, these guys are used to it. I missed the departure from Aruba and the arrival at Willemstad, Curacao, as it was just a short pas-sage during the night. My WLAN did not work at sea. Chief Andrey kindly offered me to use his PC in his office. We were going to stay the entire day in Willem-stad, and I shall had sufficient time to go ashore for a guided sightseeing tour. Captain Tena re-quested the agent to make arrangements. No agent in sight. Immigration officers were sit-ting in master’s office and were quite happy “to rest” whilst waiting for the agent.In the morning I asked my new old friend, Stew-ard Oscar, that I would require his help when “feeding” me. Low calories only! Oscar’s reply: “Okay, Sir, will make sure you are not becom-ing fat, Sir. But, Sir, you are in very good shape, Sir!” Well, dear friends and readers, such a re-mark can only come from a true friend! Mean-time there was again a large fruit basket in my cabin. In this part of the world fruit is plentiful.I watched the deck crew fight the rust by using a sandblaster. It is hard and dirty work. The ship is pico bello clean and in good shape, one has the feeling that M/V ”PASSAMA” is their home, which has to be kept clean and tidy at all times. We had to wait again before departing as two cruise ships were to be berthed first. They enjoy priority at all times! The passages are so tight and narrow that only one vessel can be attended to at a time. Finally the pilot boarded at 3.00 a.m. a smart, good looking young former Navy Captain. We came to talk and he explained the political and social situation of Curacao. Out of the 155,000 inhabitants 85 % are working for the tourist industry and are poorly paid. Again the passage was very narrow. One had the feeling that we had 20 m space each side only. Once we were in the open sea the ship start-ed rolling and it was already 4.30 a.m. when I closed my eyes and went to sleep immediately. Again a sunny morning with blue skies, lots of wind and wonderful temperature. What more can you expect? There always was a sheltered place for me on deck (protected against the wind) to read my e-book. I must not forget to mention that we had a small swimming pool on board to cool off from time to time and it was of perfect size.

It was advisable, however, not to use it when the ship was rolling! It can be quite painful if you bang against the iron walls. My poor feet (which suffer from osteoarthritis) hurt like hell when climbing the iron rungs which were round and not flat. Oh, thank God, the ship started rolling again.During the long passage from the Caribbean to the next port of call it was time for “drills”. The crew had to exercise all steps to be taken in case of fire, ship in distress, man over board etc. The Master was kind enough as to let me stay on the bridge and to watch the scenery from above. After the successful drill Master and Chief Mate were all smiles and obviously satisfied with the crew.Vitoria in Brazil was our next destination. We were steaming against the wind and current, therefore, 12 to 13 knots speed only. All of a sudden, we were hit by, although foreseen on the radar, a tropical shower of such an intensity which one can hardly imagine. Visibility less than 20 m but we were warm and cosy in the safety of the bridge. On Sunday, 8th February 2015, at 7.20 a.m., we crossed the Equator. Here, the ocean is 3,647 m deep! For all readers who may not know: The UNESCO invested a lot of money for a satellite control enlightened band, 50 m wide and quite easy to see from the knock. All ships are requested to slow-down and to cross the line at “dead slow” speed in order not to damage this precious investment. A very impres-sive moment!After nine days at sea we were heading for Vi-toria. Most of the time we enjoyed wonderful weather with lots of sunshine. I was grateful the permanent swell which brought the ship in a rocking chair position did not affect me and which when walking on deck it looked and felt like being drunk. By the way, I had my last glass of beer more than a week ago …Twice we watched dolphin school escorting the ship. Up to 70 dolphins, amongst the crowd little ones, keeping up with us. They were not curious only, but looked for fish they might catch which were usually been pushed up by the ship’s speed. An incident which took me more than a week to explain to the Officers on board was that every day I heard a knock on my cabin door: “Tak, tak, tak”. When I answered “Yes, please, come in!” Nobody there. It turned out to be the fridge in my cabin and whilst the Officers were amused they admitted that they have had the same experience. One observation I made was that it takes a lot of time and patience when entering the various ports of call may it be Vitoria, Santos, Parana-gua – always the same procedure. Anchoring and waiting to come alongside. The wind was blowing strongly, tropical rain showers with an enormous intensity. Powerful lightening’s on top. We left the Brazilian ports behind us and proceeded to Montevideo, Uruguay. Just a few cars in and out and off we went again. Destina-tion Zarate, Argentina. Thereafter a long passage across the delta of Rio de la Plata. The narrow seaway is 116 m wide and 117 km long. To the left and right of the buoys the depth is less than 7 m! We passed the skyline of Buenos Aires and

went up the Rio Parana de Las Palmas versus Zarate. The river was flowing in zick-zack turns. We passed small weekend cottages which can only be reached by boat. A water taxi is collect-ing people in the morning and brings them back at night. No alligators, but millions of mosquitos! The passage to and from Zarate lasted 24 hours on the river.At night we saw a sunset we cannot forget! A big round globe of pure gold.After two days at Zarate we set sail for our long way back to Cartagena. On quiet evenings Cap-tain Tena ordered barbeque which for the crew was a highlight after a hard day’s work. Tender Argentina beef at its best! Music of all kind, ac-companied by a crew member’s guitar and lots of laughter from happy sailors.“PASSAMA barbeque party”.On our way back we witnessed a jubilee. The pilot who brought us into the port of Vitoria came on board again to take us out. It was his 1.010 piloting job and this fact made him a “full pilot”. In order to obtain this qualification a pilot has to perform these many trips. Great joy for him and myself: We exchanged caps – my FL-cap for his Navy cap.

TO SUM UP:What makes such a trip so interesting and de-sirable for any passenger?Firstly, it is always the weather, i.e. tempera-ture above 27° C at all times, almost constant sunshine, a cooling breeze and the visit to the various ports of call.It is really exciting to watch the work of the highly professional and skilful master, officers and pi-lots to safely berth a vessel of this size; some-times under most difficult conditions may it be strong winds or narrow passages or even both.Once the vessel is safely secured alongside you will be surprised to see the huge parking areas packed with seemingly endless array of motor cars.The next interesting step then is the fast load-ing or discharging of the cargo (motor cars): there are always 2 teams involved, one team drives the cars up to the vessel’s ramp from where the next team takes over to drive the cars into the vessels belly, everything happening at an enormous speed.Upon completion of this operation these teams are being transported back by mini buses to their original positions.Well, I thoroughly enjoyed having been a pas-senger for 6 weeks on this comfortable and well-maintained vessel, last but not least due to the openness and friendliness of the Filipino/Russian officers and the Filipino crew, never forgetting the master of the vessel, Captain Ra-dito S. Tena a wonderful seaman with enormous experience.It really was a great enjoyment to sail on board the M/V “PASSAMA” up and down the east coast of South America, whereby the ship con-tributed a lot towards this unforgettable sea-voyage.


F. LAEISZStark für

für UnternehmerStark


COMPANY HISTORY

REMINISCENCES OF AN OLD HAMBURG CITIZEN – PART 8

Having worked as a journeyman for nearly two years, I felt I had enough training to make my way to Leipzig and Berlin, the leading towns in the bookbinders‘ trade.I wandered, therefore, to Leipzig, via Magde-burg, but was not able to find suitable work there, so I went to Dresden and Breslau. Eventually I reached Berlin in the summer of 1821.Although there were many book-binding journeymen looking for work there, I soon found a privileged job in a business which employed about twenty journeymen and which was run more like a factory. I earned five to eight „Taler“ weekly. Here I also learnt how to make different kinds of fancy goods, and when silk hats came into fash-ion, we also opened up in this branch of business and therein I became very skilled. This proved extremely useful to me later on.Although I was earning a good wage now, I did not save any money; I spent it on amusements and clothes in the Berlin fash-ion, i. e. elegant to the eye, but with shabby underwear, or, as the Hamburg people say: „Buten bunt, binnen Schund!“ (On top natty, underneath ratty).I did not think it necessary at that time to deprive myself of anything for thrifty rea-sons for I did not believe it possible to get rich by saving „Groschen“ and „Taler“ – I wanted to enjoy life. But this was a mis-take, and my own experience soon convert-ed me to another way of thinking. The Crown Prince, later King Friedrich Wil-helm IV, was celebrating his wedding in Berlin during my stay there and I was standing amidst a crowd of spectators on the Palace Bridge as it collapsed under the weight of us all and many people were killed.An intrigue of my master put an end to my working in his business. He was an immoral man who wanted a divorce from his wife and so tried to get me involved in a scan-dal. I did not fall into the trap though. I quit the business and took on an even better job with one of his competitors.After two years in Berlin, I received a letter from my mother asking me to return to Hamburg to help her in the business which she show mainly ran alone in the stead of my ageing father. As I wanted to get an im-pression of the commercial towns along the Baltic Sea coast, I made my way to Ham-burg via Rostock, Wismar and Lübeck, and reached my home town on the 24th March, 1824, after five years’ absence. My parents

now lived at 105, Kurze Mühren Street and I moved into an attic room there.As business was bad in my parents ‘shop, I started up on my own making silk hats. As soon as two dozen were ready, I put an ad-vertisement in the „Hamburger Nach-richten“ (Hamburg News). A hatter named DITTMER answered the advert. and bought up my whole stock for 10 Marks each, a price which brought me a considerable profit. Encouraged by this, I ordered from „Velpel“, a famous hat maker in Berlin, and started working so much that, in the course of the first year, I only had about ten Sun-days off, apart from having a minimum of sleep. I worked so hard, firstly because, ac-cording to general opinion, such hats would soon go out of fashion and, secondly, be-cause I could not find a capable assistant. My mother and sister helped me to trim the hats and so earned themselves quite a sum of money from which my sister, at a later date, bought her trousseau. I gradually had so many customers that it displeased the Hatters’ Guild and they tried to hinder me in carrying out my business as it interfered with their privileges. However, the charge brought against me, mainly by their Elder-man CREUTZBURG, my future father-in-law, was dismissed.Once I had a large order to finish quickly and, having slept very little the nights be-fore, I tried to keep myself awake by drink-ing a bottle of champagne. However, the effect was just the opposite and when my customers came to collect their orders the next morning, they found me fast asleep. The only amusement I occasionally had, was a visit to the theatre (in the gallery, of course), a pastime, which I had actively cultivated in Berlin. My everlasting love for the theatre had a favourable influence on my education which had been rather ne-glected under sad conditions of my early youth.When my sister and faithful assistant AU-GUSTE was married to the merchant NOL-TE, he became a good friend and I was able to sell a large quantity of hats at a good profit to various business connec-tions which he had produced for me in Bremen. I endeavoured to expand my busi-ness and employed several assistants, whom, however, I first had to train. In 1825, I asked a friend of mine, a captain, if he could take a parcel of hats overseas to Buenos Aires and try to sell them there. This venture was so successful that I soon

considered establishing business abroad as this promised to be more profitable. I extended my activities to include every-thing to do with the hat-trade and became, on the 26th May, 1826, as master-hatter, a citizen of Hamburg.In the meantime, I had been thinking of set-ting up my own home. During an evening stroll I nearly got engaged to a pretty girl, the daughter of a family we were acquainted with, but we were disturbed by a dog bark-ing, who then, in turn, called all the neigh-bours’ attention to us. This girl became very ill a little later and so the friendship came to an end. Later I became acquainted with the twenty-year-old daughter of the Elderman-hatter CREUTZBURG and I liked her even more than her predecessor. After we had known each other for a short time, she con-sented to marry me. Her parents were very strict, however, and had brought their daughter up to work very hard and did not want to part with her just yet. I had to court her for nearly a year until we could marry. We got married at last on the 04th June, 1826, and that was the beginning of a long and happy union with my faithful partner of life. On the Jungfernstieg, (it was not ele-gant avenue it is now), we rented a house with little furniture as my wife’s dowry was very small. But my wife’s diligent, thrifty disposition and her tireless activity and dex-terity were much more valuable for me than the most magnificent dowry. She was soon my best co-worker in the business. The birth of our only son on the 29th April, 1828 crowned our domestic life.

To be continued in Fleetnews no. 19


PUBLISHED BY:

Reederei F. Laeisz G.m.b.H. · Phone: +49 40 36808-229 · Fax: +49 40 36808-257 E-Mail: [email protected] · www.laeisz.de · Design & Layout: www.matrix-design.com

BOOK REVIEWS

Author Photograph Martin ElsenTitle „Faszination Nordsee“ Published by MCE-Verlag (Medien Contor Elbe)ISBN 978-3-938097359

The North Sea is one of the fascina-ting oceans and an important eco-nomical region for Germany with the ports Bremerhaven/Bremen, Wil-helmshaven and Hamburg. With her wonderful mudflat she belongs to the World Cultural Heritage and in-ternational significant natural region.In the foreground of this picture book are the North Sea and parts of North Sea isles with also details from the public beach St. Peter Or-ding, the mudflat and sandbanks in all their colours. The book shows the whole area of the North Sea coast from the Netherlandic until the Danish frontier with the isles, but also the Elbe and Weser river from Bremerhaven until Hamburg. All introduction texts and picture descriptions has been also translated into English language.

FASZINATION NORDSEE

BOOK REVIEWS

DER GEFRORENE OZEAN

Author Peter Lemke, Stephanie von NeuhoffTitle „Der gefrorene Ozean“Published by Koehlers VerlagsgesellschaftISBN 978-3-7822-1210-6

This book takes the rea-der on a breath-taking Antarctic expedition and shows the prettiness of the frozen ocean and gi-ves us an in depth look into the polar research and the day on board of a research vessel. For the winter expe-dition the researcher choose the route from Capetown in the sou-th direction to the Antarctic and from there to North West to the peak of the Antarctic peninsulas. Operated by Capt. Uwe Pahl and his crew, the international expedition team came sa-fely through the Polar Sea and reached after over 9 weeks port Punta Arenas.

This book shows in pictures together with exciting texts the fasci-nation and power of the frozen ocean.

BIMCO ELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEOn the 3rd of June 2015 the AGM of BIMCO - the world’s most trusted authority of the industry, empowered by expertise – elected Phillippe Luis-Dreyfus as the new President for a term of two years. Among oth-

ers Niko Schües was co-opted to become a member of the Executive Board. Our Peter Eckhardt represents Germany on the Documentary Committee.

Philippe Luis-Dreyfus (centre) – the new President and his Executive Committee

Documents

No.18 | June 2015