The shipping company Reederei Hamburger Lloyd (RHL) is celebrated its 10th anniversary on the occasion of its fourth traditional Rice & Curry dinner on June 8, 2017 in the Hafen Klub, Hamburg.
In June 2007, the ATALANTA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & CO KG and its subsidiary HHSI Hansa Hamburg Shipping International GmbH & Co. KG founded the container shipping company Reederei Hamburger Lloyd GmbH & CO KG, or HAMBURGER LLOYD for short.
With the merger of RHL Reederei Hamburger Lloyd & CO KG and BCH Befrachtungscontor Hamburg GmbH & Co. KG, founded in the summer of 2006, a single compact unit replaced the former two companies in early 2008, and the group of shareholders now consisted of three equal partners, Dr Christian Olearius, Mr Harald Block and Mr Hauke Pane.
Only a year after the company’s foundation, its fleet already comprised five active vessels of the GWS 1,700-type, and five contracted newbuildings of Panamax-Max-design and 5,100 TEU each.
In late 2009, RHL Hamburger Lloyd Crewmanagement GmbH & Co. KG was founded, in order to take over the professional human resources management for the on-board personnel of Hamburger Lloyd and the “RHL sister” Wappen Reederei GmbH & Co. In the year 2010, the fleet was extended by four feeder vessels with ice class, and through the delivery of three newbuildings.
A further office was opened in Riga in 2011, to further develop and expand the shipping company organisation. In 2012 and 2013, four newbuildings of so-called wide-beam design were delivered, and HAMBURGER LLOYD acquired all shares of Wappen Reederei GmbH & Co. KG. The fleet list was extended by 12 tank vessels of 8.150 TDW each. Hamburger Lloyd was certified by the classification society DNV GL according to ISO 9001:2008 in 2014, and according to ISO 9001:2015 in 2017.
Due to the global financial and economic crisis, which has been raging since 2008 and continues to affect the shipping markets until today, Hamburger Lloyd had to part with three 5,100 TEU vessels and a number of tank vessels. The fleet was reduced by 11 units. In the summer of 2015, the take-over of a Handysize bulk carrier marked the beginning of a new business field; a further five bulk carriers followed in 2016. At the beginning of this year, the four ice-class, so-called “BEK” type vessels, built by the Meyer shipyard, were sold.
The ATALANTA Beteiligungsgesllschaft mbH & CO KG became the sole shareholder at the beginning of the year. Thanks to the strong support of the shareholders, an efficient and always motivated management team, and a very professional crew ashore and on board, RHL has managed to stay on course even in stormy times.
It has always been – and will continue to be – a primary goal to create long-term values, and maybe to stay small and reliable in the process, but always independent.
In its anniversary year 2017, the medium-sized shipping group is operating 19 units, comprising nine containerships, four chemical tank vessels (IMO-II), and six bulk carriers.
