Home About Us People Fleet Sustainability News Contact ABOUT US F. Laeisz is a diversified family owned group of companies which has its main interests in shipping, trade and insurance. The diversification has been vital in the company’s long history and still today the group companies operate independently while the shipping related activities are the backbone of our group. Laeisz was founded in 1824 in Hamburg and has ever since been a vital part of the Hamburg ship owning scene and today is one of the leading shipping companies in Germany. WHAT WE DO REEDEREI F. LAEISZ together with various group companies is a fully integrated shipowner and manager performing all relevant services based on in-house expertise with a skilled and dedicated sea and shore staff that oversee a fleet comprising of Pure Car and Truck Carriers, LPG/Ammonia Carriers, Container and Research vessels. We are driven by our ambition to be a safe, sound, reliable and efficient maritime service provider to our clients. The environment and quality considerations play a key role in our service to the shipping industry. With a customised service we strive for long term relationships with our industrial clients, the public sector as well as third partymanagement clients. WHAT WE STAND FOR We are comitted to uphold our values in all environments and throughout time. We have done so for almost 200 years. WHERE WE WORK The ship management activities and the staff departments are concentrated in the Rostock office. We offer among others crewing, technical management and newbuilding supervision. Hamburg is the traditional home of the company. From here the chartering and sale and purchase activities as well as newbuilding activities and financing are handled. The office in Bremerhaven is responsible for the management of the research vessels. Furthermore our cooperations with public entities are coordinated from this office. Our ships are the home and workplace of our seafarers. We try very hard to make it as comfortable a home as possible. Maybe you will join us for a game of Basketball aboard one of our Car Carriers? OTHER THINGS WE DO WHERE WE COME FROM We invite you to browse our long and rich history. 1824 On March 24, 1824, Ferdinand Laeisz founded the company, initially as a maker of top hats. In 1825, he forwards his first shipment to Buenos Aires. As in those days’ payment was frequently made in the form of natural produce, F. Laeisz had, by 1832, evolved into an import/export trading company. 1839 F. Laeisz orders the building of the brig "Carl," named after his son. Young businessman Carl Laeisz will join the company in 1852. Due to new trade lanes emerging all around the globe, he urges his father to buy more ships. 1850 Besides trade and shipping, F. Laeisz builds up another mainstay. The F. Laeisz insurance division, established in 1850 and focusing primarily on hull and commodities insurance, will be a growing business. The three stars in the F. Laeisz company seal and flag symbolize the three divisions trade, shipping and assurance. 1857 F. Laeisz continuously expands its fleet. One of the new ships is christened after Carl's wife, nicknamed "Pudel" (poodle) for her curly hair. A statue of a poodle stands on top of the Laeiszhof on Trostbrücke between the two towers in memory of Carl's wife. Choosing names beginning with the letter "P" soon becomes a Laeisz tradition, a tradition that is valid until the present day. 1861 F. Laeisz establishes the Hamburgischer Rettungsverein (Hamburg Rescue Organisation) in 1861, later to be renamed Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger (German Society for Rescuing Shipwrecked). The close connection between the Laeisz shipping company and this rescue organization has remained to this day. 1862 A Laeisz tallship drops anchor in the Chilean port of Valparaiso for the first time. Tallships of the F. Laeisz shipping line manage to race around Cape Horn faster than all competitors for decades to come. Even today, the "Flying P-Line" sailing ships are world-renowned. 1871 The Laeisz name figures among the founding companies of many shipping lines. In addition to the aforementioned DGzRS, Ferdinand Laeisz and his son Carl also hold shares in the following shipping companies: HAPAG, Hamburg-Süd, Adler-Linie, Kosmos, Hamburg-Calcutta-Linie, Vereinigte Bugsier- und Frachtschiffahrts-Gesellschaft, Woermann-Linie, Dampfschiffsreederei Gebrüder Schiller & Co, Hamburg-Brasilianische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft, Hansa, Deutsch-Australische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft, Deutsche Levante-Linie and the Deutsche Ostafrika-Linie. 1879 Father and son make grandson Carl Ferdinand a partner in the company. Now, with three Laeisz generations working in the business, they form a highly active trio. 1887 The companies founder, Ferdinand Laeisz, passes away. 1897 In 1897, the F. Laeisz company builds impressive headquarters at Trostbrücke 1, where the company is still headquartered today. 1901 In his last will, Carl Laeisz designates a large sum of money to be paid by F. Laeisz to the City-State of Hamburg for the construction of a concert hall. His widow Sophie Laeisz adds to that sum and the magnificent Laeiszhalle is built. 1907 With sailing ships heavily affected by a shipping slump, the company turn its sights to Africa, more specifically to Cameroon where banana farming is fast becoming a growing industry. Refrigerated ships are needed to transport the bananas to Hamburg. As a result, the F. Laeisz company buys a majority share in the Afrikanische Frucht Companie (AFC). 1919 The Treaty of Versailles stipulates that nearly all German merchant ships are to be turned over to the Allied Forces, an action which would put Laeisz out of business. The company is saved by the mere fact that the majority of its sailing ships are in Chile at this time. As these ships are to be sailed home at the expense of its owner they are loaded with sodium nitrate, a very scarce resource and sorely needed at that time in Europe. The revenue from the freight and sodium nitrate sales is so high as to enable the repurchase of the majority of sailing ships from the Allies. 1924 Paul Ganssauge becomes a partner of F. Laeisz. 1930 Shipping bananas on refrigerated freighters has developed into F. Laeisz's primary business. Besides Cameroon, bananas are also being shipped to Europe from Jamaica and Colombia. 1936 Willi Ganssauge becomes a partner of F. Laeisz. 1945 The company loses its entire fleet as a result of the war. The last tallship is turned over to the Soviet Union. The PADUA, now KRUZENSTERN, is still on the water today. It takes a few years until the company is able to launch the first post-war reefer vessel MS “PROTEUS”. 1972 The first Panmax bulk carriers with a capacity of 80,000 tdw, MS "PROSERPINA" /MS "PROPONTIS", are launched, as well as the very first full container vessels holding 750 TEU, MS "PLUVIUS" and MS "PLUTOS". 1973 Nikolaus W. Schües becomes a partner of F. Laeisz. 1983 The world’s first fully containerized reefer vessel MS PURITAN is delivered to F.Laeisz. In 2003 the ship was sold to Chiquita Brands, who opted to pay in shares of AFC - this would turn out to have been a very lucrative sale. 1989 F. Laeisz is initiator and founding member of the Hydrogen Society Hamburg and engaged in its development since. 1993 Nikolaus H. Schües joins the company in 1993 and later becomes a partner of F. Laeisz. This year marks the privatization of the former East German state-owned shipping company, the Deutsche Seereederei Rostock. The fleets of both the Deutsche Seereederei (DSR) and the F. Laeisz Schiffahrtsgesellschaft merge into the Reederei F. Laeisz. 1995 In cooperation with partners, the “Hamburgische Seehandlung“ is founded in 1995 in order to enable the F. Laeisz Group to offer sound financial services on the capital market. 1997 As Germany's first shipping company, F. Laeisz is certified according to the ISO 14001 environmental standard. 1996 Martini Chartering is founded and soon becomes one of the leading broker firms for container tonnage. 2005 In a joint venture with YARA International, the Gas Carriers POLAR and PAZIFIK are purchased. 2009 Continuing its diversification, F.Laeisz orders a series of eight Pure Car and Truck Carriers that are delivered from 2009 to 2012. 2016 The global banking- and shipping crisis that began in 2008 left also its mark on the fleet of Reederei F. Laeisz. Due to the diverse fleet mix and due to the conservative volume of orders the shipping company survives the storm. 2020 The PEKING, a tallship build for F. Laeisz in 1911, returns to the Port of Hamburg to be the centerpiece of the Hamburg Port Museum. 2021 F. Laeisz enters an active participation in the H2Global Initiative, a consortium of leading companies working towards a more sustainable future based on green hydrogen. 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