North German Lloyd Company
Spellings: North German Lloyd Company / Nord-deutscher Lloyd
The North German Lloyd Line (NGL) was founded in 1857 by the amalgamation of four smaller companies. They commenced operations between Bremen and London with six 500 ton steamers. Transatlantic voyages to New York started in June, 1858; Baltimore in March, 1868; and in 1869 regular sailings commenced to New Orleans. A service to Central America was instituted in 1871, but was withdrawn in 1874. Voyages from Bremen to Brazil and the River Plate started in 1876 and Genoa to Brazil and River Plate in 1878, the latter service only lasting for three years.
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By 1866 NGL was making weekly runs to New York and in 1874 averaged 11 days and 13 hours on its sailings. From 1882 onwards, the New Orleans service was extended to Galveston, but the whole route was abandoned in 1886. Two new routes from Bremen to the Far East and Bremen to Australia were opened in 1886, both via Suez. Italy to New York sailings commenced in October, 1891 and in 1897, the Bremen - UK service was sold to Argo Steamship Company together with seven ships. Occasional sailings between Bremen and Galveston resumed in 1898 and became regular in 1899.
A fortnightly service was started in 1893 by what they called their Roland Line. The Roland Line sailed from Breman to New York with steerage passengers and cargo. By December of 1893 the line owned 80 vessels.
In 1904 a new service from Marseilles to Naples and Alexandria started and in 1909 a joint summer service between Bremen and Hamburg to Quebec and Montreal was instituted with Hamburg America, Red Star and Holland America Lines. Bremen - Galveston ships commenced calls at Philadelphia in March, 1910 and a new service started in 1913 to Boston and New Orleans.
At the outbreak of WWI, many NGL ships took refuge in US ports, and these were seized by American authorities in 1917. After the Armistice, the company lost every worthwhile ocean going steamer as war reparations, and in 1920 chartered ships from the US Shipping Board to resume services. They gradually rebuilt their fleet and in 1925 took over the Hamburg-Bremen Africa Line, the Dampschiff Reederei Horn and the Roland Line. In 1928 Quebec and Montreal services were resumed. During World War II, NGL again lost almost their entire fleet and again restarted with chartered ships. In 1970 the company amalgamated with Hamburg America Line to become HAPAG-Lloyd.
source: http://www.theshipslist.com