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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 passenger water transport

Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft

Dissolved 1970

Headquarters: Hamburg
Founded: 1847
Employees: —

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

25,953

Summed over 2 ships reporting tonnage

In brief

What Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft is

Full article ↗

The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), known in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. Among those involved in its development were prominent German citizens such as Albert Ballin (director general), Adolph Godeffroy, Ferdinand Laeisz, Carl Woermann, August Bolten, and others, and its main financial backers were Berenberg Bank and H. J. Merck & Co. It soon developed into the largest German, and at times the world's largest, shipping company, serving the market created by German immigration to the United States and later, immigration from Eastern Europe. On 1 September 1970, after 123 years of independent existence, HAPAG merged with the Bremen-based North German Lloyd to form Hapag-Lloyd AG, today an international shipping and container transportation company.

Origin

Who founded it

Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft was founded in 1847 in Hamburg by 4 named founders on record. Portraits are shown only where a freely licensed photograph exists and its photographer is known.

Founder

Ferdinand Laeisz

1801–1887

Hamburg merchant and shipowner (1801-1887)

Founder

Adolph Etienne Godeffroy

1814–1893

German politician (1814-1893)

Photo: E. Bieber, Hamburg · Public domain · file

Founder

Carl Woermann

1813–1880

German shipowner (1813-1880)

Photo: Julius Geertz (creator of the original painting) · Public domain · file

Founder

Godeffroy family

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

Albert Ballin

1857–1918

German businessman (1857-1918)

Photo: Unknown photographerUnknown photographer · Public domain · file

Board member

Arndt von Holtzendorff

1859–1935

Board member

Victor Neumann

1878

Corporate profile

Identity and registration

Legal name: —
Industry: sea and coastal passenger water transport
Legal form: Aktiengesellschaft
Country of registration: Germany
Headquarters: Hamburg
Formed in: Hamburg
Founded: 1847
Dissolved: 1970
Employees: —
Head office coordinates: 53.5500, 10.0000

Ships on record here: 7
Vessel types operated: 4
Flag states used: 3
Average vessel age: 93.4 years
Oldest vessel on record: 1923
Newest vessel on record: 1960
Largest vessel by tonnage: 20,815
Average tonnage: 12,977
Market share: —
Parent company: —
Alliance: —
Record source: wikidata
Last refreshed: 2026-09-05

Fleet on record

What this company sails

Composition of the 7 vessels this registry attributes to Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft. Bars are true proportions of that set, not of the company's full fleet.

By vessel type

By flag state

By shipbuilder

Blohm+Voss4

Deutsche Werft1

Free City of Danzig1

Vulkanwerft1

Delivery history

10-year fleet record

Ships delivered in each of the last 10 years, counted from the recorded build year of vessels attributed to this company, with the running total of its fleet on record. No deliveries fall inside this window — this company’s vessels on record were all built earlier.

Year	Gross tonnage added	Fleet on record
2017	—	7
2018	—	7
2019	—	7
2020	—	7
2021	—	7
2022	—	7
2023	—	7
2024	—	7
2025	—	7
2026	—	7

Vessel records

Ships on record

7 vessels

Ship	IMO	Type	Flag	Built	Gross tonnage	Deadweight	Length	Builder
SS Albert Ballin	5335993	Unclassified	Germany	1923	20,815	—	183.6 m	Blohm+Voss
Dortmund	5214149	General cargo	Portugal	1926	5,138	—	129.1 m	Blohm+Voss
Cordillera	5302362	Unclassified	Germany	1933	—	—	151.7 m	Blohm+Voss
Heidelberg	5606411	Unclassified	German Reich	1925	—	—	—	Vulkanwerft
Münsterland	5243774	General cargo	Germany	1960	—	—	157.2 m	Deutsche Werft
MV Caribia	6807527	Passenger vessel	Germany	1933	—	—	151.7 m	Blohm+Voss
Pobeda	5280083	Cruise ship	Germany	1928	—	—	153.0 m	Free City of Danzig

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 Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft compares

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

With 7 vessels attributed to it here, Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft is the 123rd largest of the 965 operators in this directory that hold at least one ship on record, against a median of 2 across that group. That is a count of individually identified hulls, not the company’s published fleet size — the two are different measurements and both are shown above where available.

Germany is the country of registration for 147 commercial operators in this directory, among which Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft ranks 19th 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 1847, Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft is 179 years old. This directory holds 22 operators founded within five years either side of that date, whose median fleet on record is 2 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 Q696056, released under CC0. Counted figures on this page are counts over those records.

Written summaryQuoted from Hamburg America Line on English Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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

Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft

What Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft is

Who founded it

Leadership on record

Identity and registration

Ownership and holdings

What this company sails

10-year fleet record

Ships on record

How Hamburg-Amerikanische-Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft compares

Other operators registered in Germany

Where this page comes from