Category: Shipping

MS Burgenland: Murder on board

During the Second World War, atrocities that are barely comprehensible today also took place on a ship off the South American coast. The story of the MS Burgenland shows the brutality of the Nazi era. "Being attacked by several heavy units. My location is about 7° south 26° west. Must sink ship, classified information has been destroyed." - This was the last message from the blockade runner MS Burgenland, which was received by the naval command of the Kriegsmarine on the evening of 5 January 1944. What was meant by classified information was to be the subject of a court case against the former naval attaché in Tokyo and head of the Naval Special Service East Asia, retired Admiral Paul Wenneker, in the mid-1960s....

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Hapag-Lloyd: Anniversary of a German icon

On 27 May 2022, it will be 175 years since a group of Hanseatic merchants founded the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft in Hamburg. The beginning was quite modest with three small packet sailers. First, the DEUTSCHLAND, a full-rigged ship of 538 gross register tonnes, left Hamburg on 15 October 1848, bound for New York. The company, which was later known simply as the Hamburg-America Line or Hapag for short, launched its first steamship in 1855 with the HAMMONIA, which was already 2026 gross register tonnes in size. A little later, in Bremen, the other major Hanseatic city on the North Sea, North German Lloyd was founded on 20 February 1857.

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Naval shipbuilding remains a key technology

The new maritime coordinator sees outstanding economic opportunities for Germany on the way to achieving climate neutrality. Common regulations for arms exports are to be developed at European level. On 5 January 2022, Claudia Müller (Greens) was appointed Federal Government Coordinator for Maritime Economy and Tourism. Her predecessor in office, Norbert Brackmann (CDU), had held this position since April 2018. She announced her programme priorities as soon as she was appointed: "We must focus on climate-neutral propulsion systems in Germany and, if possible, in Europe as well, and thus make Europe more sustainable as a shipyard location." The shipping industry is at a decisive turning point, at which the future of...

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Ready

For the first time, the US Navy handed over an aircraft carrier battle group to NATO. The alliance thus demonstrated its ability to react quickly and flexibly to challenges. In Germany, talk of naval power quickly conjures up images from the 19th and 20th centuries. Nowadays, however, the concept can no longer be limited to a large fleet and "strategic naval positions", i.e. favourably located bases overseas. What naval power actually means in the 21st century was demonstrated by NATO at the beginning of the year: the alliance carried out the Neptune Strike 2022 exercise for a fortnight. A total of 28 nations took part. The setting was the central Mediterranean...

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China's fishing militia

China is consolidating its territorial claims in the South China Sea with artificially created islands. Aggressive fishing fleets and maritime militias are also intended to ensure that its citizens are fed. The G7, NATO and EU meetings of the American president in June 2021 at the latest made Europeans realise that they need to reposition themselves with regard to the People's Republic of China. This is no longer just about flying the military flag in the South China Sea, but about the future political, economic and technological relationship with a country that has long been preparing to become the number one superpower. And the European Council on Foreign Relations states: "China...

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