A public reference property of Baalvion

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World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

A public reference property of Baalvion

Open data · every figure carries its source

World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

sea and coastal freight water transport (NACE 50.2)

Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group of Companies

Headquarters: Hamburg
Founded: 1924
Employees: —

Official website

Photo: Dr. Karl-Heinz Hochhaus · CC BY 3.0 · file

Ships in this registry

Counted from individual vessel records · Wikidata

Reported fleet size

—

No published figure available

Container capacity

—

Not a ranked container line

Gross tonnage on record

—

Summed over 0 ships reporting tonnage

In brief

What Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group of Companies is

Full article ↗

The Deutsche Afrika-Linien GmbH & Co./ John T. Essberger GmbH & Co. (DAL/JTE) is a German shipping company, based in Hamburg. It has a workforce of 1200–1300 world-wide and an annual turnover of about $350 million. The headquarters of Palmaille in Hamburg-Altona is situated on the Elbe River and consists of an 18th-century palace and several modern buildings. The company operates container and general cargo services between Europe, the Canary Islands, eastern and southern Africa, and Indian Ocean ports. Gas and chemical tankers are operated under the name Essberger Tankers. In addition, the group offers logistics and insurance services, as well as the travel agency 'Hammonia Travel'.

It was founded in Hamburg in 1924 as the Essberger-Tankschiffreederei, by the John Theodor Essberger (1886–1959). Essberger was British-born but had become a naturalised German citizen before 1914. He commanded torpedo-boats during the First World War and was named 'Leader of German shipping' during the Third Reich. In 1942 Essberger took over the Woermann-Linie and Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie from the cigarette manufacturer Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma. After the war, the fleet was dispossessed. However, Essberger soon built up a new fleet and became once again one of the largest private shipowners in West Germany.

Origin

Who founded it

Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group of Companies was founded in 1924 by one named founder on record. Portraits are shown only where a freely licensed photograph exists and its photographer is known.

Founder

John T. Essberger

1886–1959

(1886-1959)

People

Leadership on record

Officers and directors as recorded in open reference data. This reflects the most recent statement in the source, not a filing date — check the company's own disclosures before relying on it.

Board

Board member

Liselotte von Rantzau-Essberger

1918–1993

(1918-1993)

Corporate profile

Identity and registration

Legal name: —
Industry: sea and coastal freight water transport (NACE 50.2)
Legal form: GmbH & Co. KG
Country of registration: Germany
Headquarters: Hamburg
Formed in: —
Founded: 1924
Dissolved: —
Employees: —
Head office coordinates: 53.5500, 10.0000

Ships on record here: 0
Vessel types operated: —
Flag states used: —
Average vessel age: —
Oldest vessel on record: —
Newest vessel on record: —
Largest vessel by tonnage: —
Average tonnage: —
Market share: —
Parent company: —
Alliance: —
Record source: wikidata
Last refreshed: 2026-09-05

Vessel records

Ships on record

0 vessels

No individual ships attributed to this company yet

The company is on record, but no vessel in the registry currently names it as operator or owner. Nothing is invented to fill this space.

Search the whole registry instead

Ships in registry counts individual vessel records attributed to the company here. Reported fleet is the company’s published total. They measure different things and are shown separately on purpose.

In context

How Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group of Companies compares

Counts over companies and vessels actually held in this directory — not over the world fleet, which is larger. Nothing here is estimated.

Germany is the country of registration for 147 commercial operators in this directory, among which Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group of Companies ranks 102nd by ships on record. Between them those companies hold 640 vessels here. 1 of them carry a published container-capacity ranking. See every operator registered in Germany.

Founded in 1924, Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group of Companies is 102 years old. This directory holds 53 operators founded within five years either side of that date, whose median fleet on record is 1 ships. The median founding year across all commercial operators here is 1966, and the oldest on record dates to 1514.

Provenance

Where this page comes from

Company and vessel recordsWikidata item Q1202003, released under CC0. Counted figures on this page are counts over those records.

Written summaryQuoted from Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group of Companies on English Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Published fleet figuresNo published fleet figure is available for this company.