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Swabia Shipping (German Shipping Company)

Reederei Schwaben GmbH, Stuttgart

image by Eugene Ipavec, 23 May 2006

Reederei Schwaben

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Reederei Schwaben

Reederei Schwaben (“Swabia Shipping Co.") GmbH at Stuttgart is the main component of a group of firms active in transportation (on waterways or otherwise), warehousing, moving, and the like but the Südwestdeutsche Salzwerke (salt works) is the major shareholder. Company website, from which most (but not all) information is gleaned:
Reederei Schwaben is of course mainly known for its shipping activities consisting of dry bulk goods transportation e.g. of salt, coal, fertilizer, and construction materials; there is a bunkering boat as well. (Related companies not active in shipping are not covered here.)
Founded in 1918 - before the end of WWI- at the behest of the Württemberg tax department to organize shipping on the River Neckar, the firm adopted the then current black-and-red Württemberg flag. Salt was for a long time the prime article shipped towards the big chemical firms established along the Main and Rhine rivers. In the nineteen fifties, motos tugs replaced the steam-driven vessels. When in 1958 the Stuttgart inland harbour was opened, the company seat was moved there from Heilbronn although this town remains important for business. The 1970's saw the introduction of bigger motor vessels and specialization in bulk goods
shipping.

In all, the fleet now has a capacity of about 11 000 metric tonnes and it is active on the major waterways of Europe. Additional vessels are chartered or put to work in cooperation with other inland shipping companies.

This is a link to one of a number of articles describing the brand-new barge ‘Stadt (town, jm) Heilbronn’. The article related photos are clickable and the second one shows the house flag behind the speaker. We learned that this flag is horizontally divided, black above red, but in addition it bears a yellow shield with three black
antlers, placed vertically, in the centre and this, too, is a reminder of Württemberg.

I would like to present the following page from the Binnenvaart site, showing a different rendition of the arms and a photo with this flag on the barge ‘Wunnenstein’, active for "Schwaben" since 1986.
Jan Mertens, 20 Apr 2006