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Hamburg Süd (German Shipping Company)

Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft

image by Jorge Candeias, 27 Dec 2004

Hamburg Süd
Columbus Line
Columbus Line / HSDG (Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft)

See also:

Hamburg Süd

Quartered per saltire in white and red.
Jorge Candeias, 2 Feb 1999

Red and white are the Hanseatic colours and also those of Hamburg. Compare with Columbus Line house flag.
Santiago Dotor, 10 May 2005

The background of this flag has been commented on under Columbus Line, i.e. it appears as a logo on the Hamburg-Süd site and may exist as a group flag. However the Hamburg-Süd shipping company has its own flag which is confirmed by a photo also appearing on this site, which has the black letters "HSDG" in the respective quarters (see below). This company originated in 1871 as the Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft, [Hamburg South American Steam Packet Co.] changing 1952 to its current name of Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschiffahrts-Ges. Eggert u. Amsinck. In 1973 it amalgamated with Dr. August Oetker Schiffahrts und Beteiligungs GmbH though retaining its name, the Dr. August Oetker company having taken control of Hamburg-Süd in 1952 after originally obtaining an interest in 1934 and today the company is a subsidiary of Rudolf A. Oetker with most of its fleet now listed under the associate Columbus Shipmanagement GmbH. The group has used Hamburg-Süd as a brand name, originally for sections of its businesss but from 1Jan 2004 this includes areas formerly under the Columbus and Crowley American Transport brands though the Aliança and Ellerman brand names also continue to be used.
Neale Rosanoski, 18 Oct 2004

Columbus Line

Columbus Line. If this company is meant to be Columbus Linie of Hamburg it was an associate of Hamburg- Südamerikanische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft Eggert & Amsinck and according to Loughran 1979 it used the Hamburg-Süd flag which bears the black letters "HSDG" in the respective quarters starting from the top. Hamburg-Süd is now part of the Rudolph A. Oetker group and whilst still operating in its own right, its previous fleet with names beginning with "Columbus", "Cap", "Santa" and "Polar" are shown under the associate company Columbus Shipmangement GmbH of Hamburg. This happened in 1998 with the formation of the latter and this flag could be theirs but as there is no date shown for the FOTW image one is left wondering.
Neale Rosanoski, 3 Jan 2003

Columbus Lines. The Columbus name was basically a trade name for Hamburg- Südamerikanische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft Eggert & Amsinck becoming associated with their container trade commencing 1963 in relation to the North American to Australia/New Zealand trade. As from 1 Jan 2004 this trade name was dropped in favour of the Hamburg-Süd brand name which is used by the Group although the name continues with the subsidiary Columbus Shipmanagement GmbH formed 1998. According to Loughran 1979 Columbus Linie used the Hamburg-Süd flag which is the flag shown with the addition of the black letters "HSDG". The version here (somewhat faded in colour and identical with that shown for Hamburg-Süd) appears as a logo on the Hamburg-Süd site but whether it is used as an actual flag is unclear whereas the "HSDG" version is shown as an actual flag.
Neale Rosanoski, 13 Oct 2004

The flag drawn by Thanh-Tam Le might be around somewhere in this world but has nothing to do with Columbus Line or HSDG. (I sailed with Columbus Line and Hamburg-Sued from 1961-66 as a deck officer.). Columbus Line came into being in 1957 when HSDG re-activated a pre-war liner service linking the US and Canada with Brazil and the River Plate, then followed up with a service from the West Coast of North America to Australia and New Zealand. At all times the house flag was the same as those flown on HSDG vessels, with those four letters in the red and white triangles. The logo without letters exists just on Hamburg-Süd stationery and the firm's Hamburg postage meter.
Wolf Spille, 27 Nov 2006

Columbus Line / HSDG

[Hamburg Süd (Shipping Company, Germany)]

image by Jorge Candeias, 2 Feb 1999

Please note the houseflag for the above company (Columbus Line is a subsidiary of Hamburg Süd) is missing the letters H S D G (Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft) in black in each of the saltires as follows:
        H
S               D
        G
Erik Porter, 21 Aug 2002