Shipping - Germany: Illustrated History Books & Guides

150 Jahre Bugsier

In January 1866, the joint-stock company "Vereinigte Bugsir-Dampfschiff-Gesellschaft" was entered in the commercial register of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. This marked the beginning of the Bugsier shipping company's remarkable success story. Over 150 years, its powerful tugs and salvage vessels gained worldwide recognition through many spectacular operations.

In "150 Jahre Bugsier", maritime journalist Jan Mordhorst traces the company's history. He describes economic and technical developments as well as the dramatic missions at sea. Numerous historical photographs, striking salvage images, contemporary documents and recent photos create a vivid and well-founded portrait of this renowned company.

Product details

Author:	Jan Mordhorst
Details:	312 pages, 11 x 8.9 x 0.98 in (28 x 22.5 x 2.5 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	extensively illustrated
Language:	German
Publisher:	Koehler in Maximilian Verlag (D, 2016)
ISBN:	9783782212380

175 Jahre Hapag-Lloyd / 175 Years of hapag-Lloyd

For over a century, the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft, founded in Hamburg in 1847, and the Norddeutsche Lloyd, a decade younger and based in Bremen, were fierce competitors, cooperating only when absolutely necessary.
Both rival shipping companies gained global prominence, constructing the largest freighters and fastest passenger steamers, dominating the emigration business, and pioneering the cruise industry. Despite losing their entire fleets in two world wars, they rebuilt, each time larger and more efficient than before. In the late 1960s, facing escalating investments due to the global rise of containerization, Hamburg and Bremen realized the need to merge Hapag and Lloyd.

Today, the Hapag-Lloyd AG, established in 1970, stands among the world's leading liner shipping companies with a fleet of 250 container ships, an annual transport volume of twelve million TEUs, and over 13,000 employees in 129 countries. The commitment of "Number One for Quality" ensures Hapag-Lloyd's position as a profitable global player. This book narrates the captivating history of the company from its founding in 1847 to its jubilee in 2022.

Product details

Author:	Kai-Axel Aanderud
Details:	388 pages, 11.2 x 11.4 x 1.26 in (28.5 x 29 x 3.2 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	extensively illustrated
Language:	German
Publisher:	Koehler in Maximilian Verlag (D, 2022)
ISBN:	9783782215008

Cap San Diego - Museumsschiff für Hamburg

Like no other landmark, the Cap San Diego embodies the port city of Hamburg with its elegant lines. Since 1986, it has been a dignified reminder of the great era of general cargo shipping. In recent years, the museum ship has delighted countless visitors. Not only the engine room and the cargo holds invite you to visit, but also on the command bridge and in the radio room you can get a vivid impression of how the fast general cargo and refrigerated ship, which was put into service in 1962, crossed the South Atlantic.

As a "born Hamburg ship" - designed, built and equipped in Hamburg, sailed by the Hamburg Süd shipping company - she found her retirement home in her home port. As the last ship of her kind, the Cap San Diego is an eloquent testimony to German engineering in shipbuilding. It is the largest seaworthy museum cargo ship in the world. Trips on the "white swan of the South Atlantic", built in 1961, are a very special experience and offer guests exciting insights into ship technology from yesterday and today.

Author Kurt Flechsenhar and Ann-Kathrin Cornelius, managing director of the Cap San Diego operating company, have brought the museum-like and seaworthiness of the Cap San Diego to the fore in their book, as the Cap San Diego is the largest seaworthy museum cargo ship in the world. They document the special knowledge of the former crew members in order to secure it for future generations.

Product details

Author:	Kurt Flechsenhar, Ann-Kathrin Cornelius
Details:	240 pages, 11 x 9 in (28 x 24 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	many b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Koehler in Maximilian Verlag (D, 2019)
ISBN:	9783782213585

Der Kieler Fährhafen - Schiffe, Linien, Terminals

With 170 historical and current photographs, Lars-Kristian Brandt presents the eventful history of the Kiel ferry port. Fascinating images with unique impressions of ferry travel invite you to take an entertaining journey into the past and present.
This multifaceted photo album will delight the people of Kiel and their guests as well as all friends of ferry travel.

Pages of the book "Der Kieler Fährhafen - Schiffe, Linien, Terminals"

Product details

Author:	Lars-Kristian Brandt
Details:	128 pages, 9 x 6.5 x 0.67 in (24 x 16.5 x 1.7 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	170 b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Sutton Verlag (D, 2020)
ISBN:	9783963031601

Deutsche Forschungsschiffe - seit 1905 (Typenkompass)

We still know relatively little about the oceans, the largest of all habitats. In order to be able to explore the seas, modern research ships with appropriate scientific equipment are necessary.
They represent scientific laboratories at sea and take on tasks in a wide variety of disciplines and fields, such as ice and polar research, geology, oceanography, marine biology or in the field of shipbuilding and fisheries science.

Hans Karr presents the most important German research ships that have been or are in use since 1905.

Pages of the book "Deutsche Forschungsschiffe - seit 1905"

Product details

Author:	Hans Karr
Details:	128 pages, 8.1 x 5.5 in (20.5 x 14 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	22 b&w and 130 color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Pietsch Verlag (D, 2015)
Series:	Typenkompass
ISBN:	9783613508118

Fähr- und Fahrgastschifffahrt an Deutschlands Küsten

NEW

From Amrum to Borkum and from Helgoland to Hiddensee, ferry and passenger ships along Germany's coasts carry almost ten million people each year. Without these links, island life would be hardly possible. Supported by many previously unpublished photographs,

This book offers a clear overview of the development of German ferry and passenger shipping. It covers economic importance, operating conditions, and technical progress, while also highlighting typical features such as the well-known duty-free trips that shaped Baltic Sea services for decades.

Author Frederik Erdmann, a recognized expert, provides new insights into current operations, focuses on lesser-known routes and vessels, and brings the history of coastal passenger shipping back to life. A selected list of sources points to rare regional publications.

Product details

Author:	Frederik Erdmann
Details:	250 pages, 10.25 x 8.25 x 0.79 in (26 x 21 x 2 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	extensively illustrated
Language:	German
Publisher:	Koehler in Maximilian Verlag (D, 2026)
ISBN:	9783782215848

Hatra Baumaschinen und Schiffe

From a small locksmith shop emerged, starting in 1919, a successful shipbuilding company and a large construction equipment factory: Hatra!
After World War II, Hans Hagelstein led his company to the forefront of the German construction machinery industry. The legendary Kemna road rollers, award-winning construction machines, and state-of-the-art hydraulic excavators defined construction sites worldwide for nearly 30 years.
For over a decade, shipbuilding also dominated in Travemünde, producing numerous new vessels for the world's oceans. In addition to sea vessels, Hatra sport boats were part of the incredibly diverse production program of the once most lucrative company in Schleswig-Holstein, employing over 1,000 people.

Beyond a comprehensive historical overview of the company, the book meticulously describes the ships and all Hatra construction machinery in technical detail. It also sheds light on various historical contexts and extraordinary events throughout the company's history.

Product details

Author:	Ulf Böge
Details:	224 pages, 11.2 x 8.25 x 0.98 in (28.5 x 21 x 2.5 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	540 b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Verlag Podszun (D, 2023)
ISBN:	9783751610766

Museumsschiffe - Geschichte, Technik, Schiffe (Typenkompass)

For this Typenkompass, Hans Karr visited countless museum ships, regardless of class, mainly in Germany. There are a lot of them: icebreakers, riverboats, trawlers, research ships, windjammers, sea rescue cruisers - a real treasure trove for ship enthusiasts.
It is precisely this wealth of different types that makes this Typenkompass so appealing. All images and descriptive texts are supplemented by clear tables and technical data.

Pages of the book "Museumsschiffe - Geschichte, Technik, Schiffe"

Product details

Author:	Hans Karr
Details:	128 pages, 8.1 x 5.5 in (20.5 x 14 cm), paperback
Illustrations:	108 color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Pietsch Verlag (D, 2012)
Series:	Typenkompass
ISBN:	9783613506886

Peking - Schicksal und Wiedergeburt eines legendären Hamburger Segelschiffes

The four-masted barque Peking, built by Blohm & Voss in 1911, is one of the last of the fast cargo sailing ships that were admiringly called the Flying-PLiner. After her fate seemed sealed, she was saved and secured for Hamburg.
How this came about is explained by Matthias Gretzschel in this book, in which he vividly traces the dramatic fate of the ship against the background of the city's, economic and maritime history: from the founding of the F. Laeisz shipping company to the great era of saltpeter shipping, the turmoil of the First World War, the sale of the Peking to England and its time as a museum ship in New York.

Separate chapters report on the threatened scrapping and the fortunate rescue, which was only made possible by the financial support of the German Bundestag. Finally, the return to Germany in a special ship, the restoration at the Peters Werft in Wewelsfleth and the role of the Peking as a landmark of the future German Port Museum in Hamburg are described in detail.
The exciting text is accompanied by historical image documents and current color photos.

Product details

Author:	Matthias Gretzschel
Details:	176 pages, 11 x 9 in (28 x 24 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	many b&w and color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Koehler in Maximilian Verlag (D, 2020)
ISBN:	9783782213844

Schlepper im Hamburger Hafen

The two renowned authors and shipping experts Arnold Kludas and Bernd Schwarz present around 150 previously unpublished historical photographs of the diverse tugboats in the port of Hamburg.
They expertly trace the history and present the steam veterans of the pre-war years, motor, salvage and assistance tugs, icebreakers and the automated powerhouses of the present.

Product details

Author:	Bernd Schwarz, Arnold Kludas
Details:	128 pages, 9 x 6.7 in (24 x 17 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	160 photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Sutton Verlag (D, 2016)
ISBN:	9783954007073

Twins: SK 36 SK 37 - Zwei neue Kreuzer für die Seenotretter

In 1985, the 27.5-meter sea rescue cruisers "Berlin" and "Hermann Helms" of the German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked People (DGzRS) were put into service. After 32 years of hard service and more than 6 000 missions, they were replaced in 2017 by two modern 28-meter newbuilds, the new "Berlin" and the "Anneliese Kramer". The fact that two rescue cruisers were built in one shipyard almost simultaneously was an absolute first.

The renowned author, book designer and maritime photographer Peter Neumann accompanied the project with his camera. This book lets the reader experience the development, construction and commissioning of the latest sea rescue cruisers up close on 172 pages and in more than 220 spectacular images. Images and texts take the interested layperson on a production journey worth seeing and also offer the expert fun with a demanding project.

The new "Berlin" and the "Anneliese Kramer" represent the pinnacle of development in the more than 150-year history of organized sea rescue, which began in 1865 with simple rowing lifeboats and bulky cork life jackets.
The two ships are now sailing on the North Sea and Baltic Sea to help people in distress at sea. Every year, the DGzRS records more than 2 000 missions and has rescued more than 84 000 people since its founding.

Product details

Author:	Peter Neumann
Details:	172 pages, 9.25 x 12 x 0.87 in (23.5 x 30.5 x 2.2 cm), hardback
Illustrations:	220+ color photos
Language:	German
Publisher:	Koehler in Maximilian Verlag (D, 2017)
ISBN:	9783782212984