Norddeutscher Lloyd

Company type	Joint-stock company
Industry	Shipping, transportation
Genre	Shipping
Predecessor	Ocean Steam Navigation Company
Founded	1857 inBremen, Germany
Founder	Hermann Henrich Meier
Defunct	1 September 1970
Fate	Merged withHamburg America Line in 1970
Successor	Hapag-Lloyd
Area served	Transatlantic, Mediterranean, Asia, and Australia
Key people	Co-founder andExecutive Chairman Eduard Crüsemann

Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL;lit. North German Lloyd) was a Germanshipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann inBremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was instrumental in the economic development of Bremen andBremerhaven. On 1 September 1970, the company merged withHamburg America Line (HAPAG) to formHapag-Lloyd.

The company was founded by the Bremen merchants Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann on 20 February 1857, after the dissolution of theNew York basedOcean Steam Navigation Company, a joint German-American enterprise.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The new shipping company had no direct association with theBritish maritimeclassification societyLloyd's Register, but by the mid-19th century, "Lloyd" was commonly used to refer to NDL^[6] (an earlier user of the term in the same context was the Trieste-basedÖsterreichischer Lloyd, originally intended to be modelled onLloyd's of London).

H. H. Meier became NDL's first chairman of the supervisory board, and Crüsemann became the first director of the company (GermanAktiengesellschaft – AG). Crüsemann was in charge of both cargo services and passenger transport, which was growing significantly as a result of emigration. The company was also active in other areas, includingtugboats, bathing, insurance, and ship repair (the last of which it still provide). The first office of the company was located at 13 Martinistraße in Bremen.

The company started with establishing a route to England prior to starting a transatlantic service. In 1857, the first ship,Adler, began regular passenger service between theWeser region (where Bremen is located) and England. On 28 October 1857, it made its maiden voyage fromNordenham to London.^[7]

Just one year later, regular, scheduled services were started between the new port in Bremerhaven and New York using two 2,674 GRT steamships,Bremen andNew York. International economic crises made the first years of NDL extremely difficult, and the company took losses until 1859.^[7] In the following years, passenger connections to Baltimore and New Orleans were added to the schedule, and the company first rented (and then purchased in 1869) facilities on the waterfront inHoboken, New Jersey.^[8]

In 1867–1868, NDL began a partnership with theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad, which initiated theBaltimore Line; until 1978, it had its own ships. In 1869, Crüsemann died at the age of 43 years. From 1877 to 1892, the director of NDL wasJohann Georg Lohmann. He established a new policy for the company, emphasizing building fast liners. Eventually H. H. Meier and Lohmann fell out over the direction of the company. In 1892, a 5,481 GRT twin-screw steamship (the company's first) was christenedH.H. Meier after the founder;^[9] this helped to heal the breach between them.^[10]

During theGründerzeit at the beginning of the German Empire, NDL expanded greatly. Thirteen new ships of the "Strassburg class" were ordered. A route to the West Indies, offered from 1871 to 1874, proved unprofitable, but it was replaced by a permanent route to the east coast of South America. On the transatlantic route, theHAPAG, theHolland-America Line, and theRed Star Line were by then all fierce rivals. Beginning in 1881 withElbe, eleven fast steamships of from 4500 to 6,900 GRT of the so-called "Rivers-class" (all named for German rivers), were introduced to serve the North Atlantic route.^[11]

In 1885, NDL won an agreement to provide postal service between the German Empire, Australia, and the Far East.^[12] The associated subsidy underwrote further expansion, beginning with the first large-scale order placed with a German shipyard for threemail steamships for the major routes and three smaller steamships for branch service fromAG Vulcan Stettin. It was a requirement of the agreement that the ships be constructed in Germany.

By 1890, with 66 ships totaling 251,602 GRT, NDL was the second largest shipping company in the world, afterP&O, with 48 ships totaling 251,603 GRT, and dominated shipping to Germany with 31.6% of the traffic. NDL was also carrying more transatlantic passengers to New York than any other company, due to its dominance insteerage, which consisted mostly of immigrants. In cabin class, it carried only slightly more passengers thanCunard andWhite Star Line. New York accounted for 42% of NDL's passenger traffic, and 15% to other US ports, but only 16.2% eastbound from New York. Its westbound South Atlantic service represented 17.3% of its passengers; eastbound from South America represented only 1.7%.^{[citation needed]}

In 1887, the NDL withdrew from the route to England in favor ofArgo Reederei, but continued to provide tug services through participation, beginning in 1899, in theSchleppschifffahrtsgesellschaft Unterweser (Unterweser Tug Association, nowUnterweser Reederei).^[13]

H. H. Meyer stepped down from the board in 1888. He was succeeded by Friedrich Reck. Johann Georg Lohmann became director of the company. Following his death in 1892, Reck stepped down and Georg Plate became the chairman. The lawyerHeinrich Wiegand became Director; from 1899 onwards, his title was Director General. He held this position until 1909,^[7] and presided over significant expansion.

• 
  Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
• 
  Kronprinz Wilhelm
• 
  Kaiser Wilhelm II
• 
  Kronprinzessin Cecilie

In 1897, with the completion ofKaiser Wilhelm der Große, the NDL finally had a major ship for the North Atlantic route. It was the largest and fastest ship in the world at the time, and the company benefited from the reputation gained by the ship winning theBlue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing with an average speed of 22.3 knots. Between 1897 and 1907, the company followed with three more ships of the sameKaiser-class, with tonnage ranging from 14,000 GRT to 19,000 GRT:Kronprinz Wilhelm,Kaiser Wilhelm II andKronprinzessin Cecilie. With these ships the company offered a regular service across the Atlantic to its docks atHoboken, New Jersey, across theHudson River from New York. On 30 June 1900, over 300 dock workers and others were killed ina fire at the Hoboken docks.

During the first decade of the 20th century, NDL and HAPAG competed in the transatlantic routes with several record-breaking ships and vied with the BritishCunard andWhite Star Line as the largest shipping companies in the world. In 1902 and 1904, two NDL ships again won the Blue Riband:Kronprinz Wilhelm with an average speed of 23.09 kn (42.76 km/h) for the westbound passage fromCherbourg to New York, andKaiser Wilhelm II at 23.58 kn (27.14 mph; 43.67 km/h) on the eastbound passage. In 1907,Lusitania, and then in 1909,Mauretania, both of Cunard Line, won the Blue Riband back for the British. TheMauretania then retained it until 1929.^[7]

Between 1894 and 1908, NDL ordered many other freight and passenger ships from several German shipyards. These included theBarbarossa-class (larger than 10,000 GRT, for Australia, the Far East, and the North Atlantic) and the Generals class (about 8,500 GRT, for the Far East and Australia).

Beginning in 1899, NDL expanded into the Pacific, acquiring the entire fleets of two small British lines, the Scottish Oriental Steamship Company and the Holt East Indian Ocean Steamship Company. There, it set up between 14 and 16 passenger and freight routes in conjunction with the postal service.^[14] In 1900, fourteen of NDL's passenger ships were requisitioned as troop transports due to theBoxer Rebellion in China. On 27 July,Kaiser Wilhelm II delivered his infamousHun speech, in which he compared the military of the German Empire to the Huns, at the departure ceremony forFriedrich Der Grosse.^[15][16] In German, these ships were collectively named "Hunnendampfer" (Huns' steamers).^{[citation needed]}

At the beginning of the 20th century, the U.S. banking magnateJ. P. Morgan began to acquire a number of shipping companies, includingWhite Star Line,Leyland Line, andRed Star Line, to build the trustInternational Mercantile Marine Company in order to monopolize transatlantic shipping. He succeeded in signing both HAPAG and NDL to a profit-sharing agreement, but was unable to acquire the British Cunard Line, or the FrenchCompagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT).^[17] HAPAG and NDL gave Morgan the largest U.S. rail company, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and so Morgan offered to divide the market. The Holland-America Line and the Red Star Line together divided a contract for the passengers of the four companies. Damaging competition was prevented between them. In 1912, the agreement with Morgan was terminated.^[18]

In 1907, the Norddeutscher Lloyd's 50th anniversary, the company had 93 large ships, 51 small ships, two sail training ships and other river steamers. It had around 15,000 employees. Because of the high investment costs and an international economic crisis, the company celebrated at this time but also realized that it had considerable financial difficulties.^[19]

Despite the financial difficulties, between 1907 and 1910, the company built a new headquarters on Papenburgstrasse in Bremen. The building was designed by architectJohann Poppe, who was also the lead interior designer for the company's liners. The building, the largest in the city at the time, was in eclecticRenaissance Revival style with a tower. It was sold in 1942 toDeutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau and, when that company was broken up into its constituent parts after World War II, passed toAG Weser. The building had been severely damaged by bombing and was demolished and aHorten department store built on the site in 1969. The adjacent new shopping mall bears the nameLloyd Passage.^[20]

The lucrative North Atlantic route was extremely competitive in this period, with new, attractive ships from other large shipping companies includingLusitania,Mauretania, andAquitania of the Cunard Line, and White Star Line'sOlympic,Titanic, andBritannic. The HAPAG introduced three new ships of theImperator class:Imperator,Vaterland, andBismarck, each with a size of around 50,000 GRT. The NDL responded with smaller but prestigious ships such asPrinz Friedrich Wilhelm andGeorge Washington, and transferredBerlin from Mediterranean service to the New York run. Finally in 1914, the company ordered two 33,000 GRT liners of theColumbus-class. However, World War I prevented their completion.^[21]

In this era of "open borders" to transatlantic travel, the largest group making thetransatlantic crossing were immigrants from Europe to the United States, and NDL carried more of them than any other company.^[22] During 1900–1914, the three NDL ships carried the most transatlantic migrants,Rhein,Main andNeckar, each brought over 100 thousand steerage passengers to New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia.^[23] The economic downturn following thePanic of 1907 led to a sharp fall-off of migrant traffic to America, only partially offset by increased steerage flows back to Europe. This was the main contributing factor to "one of the blackest years in the Company's history."^[24]

In 1914, NDL employed approximately 22,000 people. Its success thus directly influenced the rapid growth of the city ofBremerhaven, which had only been founded in 1827.

Director General Dr. Wiegand died in 1909, and was succeeded by DirectorPhillip Heineken, who served until 1920.^[25][26]

This is a list of routes served by NDL in 1907.^[27]

Europe – America

• Bremerhaven – New York
• Bremerhaven – Baltimore
• Bremerhaven – Savannah
• Bremerhaven – Galveston
• Bremerhaven – Cuba
• Bremerhaven – La Plata ports
• Bremerhaven – Brazil
• Genoa – New York

Mediterranean

• Marseille – Alexandria

Europe – Asia/Australia

• Bremerhaven – East Asia
• Bremerhaven – Australia

Asia / Australia (including coastal routes)

• Hong Kong – Japan – New Guinea
• Hong Kong – Bangkok
• Hong Kong – Bangkok (via Singapore)
• Hong Kong Straits
• Hong Kong – South Philippines
• Penang – Deli
• Deli – Singapore
• Singapore – Bangkok
• Singapore – South Philippines
• Singapore – Moluccas (on Borneo)
• Singapore – Moluccas (on Celebes)
• Shanghai – Hankow
• Australia – Japan – Manila – Hong Kong

German coast

• Daytrip service on the Baltic coast
• Tug service Bremen – Hamburg and Bremen – Bremerhaven
• Passenger shipping Bremen – Bremerhaven

The beginning of World War I was a logistical challenge for NDL as a shipping company because a large part of the fleet was at sea around the world. However, most ships were able to reach neutral ports. The logistical operations of NDL inBremerhaven were placed almost exclusively at the service of the German Navy.^[28] NDL owned a majority interest in theDeutsche Ozean-Reederei ("German Ocean Shipping Service"), which usedU-boats for trade and made some successful Atlantic crossings.

At the start of the war, the NDL's fleet totaled more than 900,000 GRT. Under theTreaty of Versailles at the end of the war, all ships over 1,600 GRT and half of all units from 100 GRT to 1,600 GRT were confiscated.^[29] In 1917, the United States had already confiscated the facilities in Hoboken and the NDL ships at the dock there. The prewar NDL fleet no longer existed.^[28] The company was left with some small ships totalling 57,000 GRT. With these, the company resumed passenger service, tug service, and freight service in 1919. The 'flagship' was the 781-tonGrüß Gott.^[30] From 1920 to 1939, NDL participated in theSeedienst Ostpreußen passenger and goods service toEast Prussia.

In 1920, an air transport subsidiary was founded and soon merged with Sablatnig Flugzeugbau GmbH to form Lloyd Luftverkehr Sablatnig. In 1923, it combined with HAPAG's air transport subsidiary to form Deutscher Aero Lloyd, which merged with Junkers Luftverkehr AG on 6 January 1926 to become Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G., the predecessor ofLufthansa.

In August 1920, the NDL made an agency agreement with the U.S. Mail Steamship Co. (beginning in 1921,United States Lines). This made it possible to resume transatlantic service from Bremerhaven to New York with the formerRhein, now sailing under the US flag as theSusquehanna.^[31] The unfinishedColumbus had been awarded to Great Britain after the war and was purchased in 1920 by White Star Line, which had lost a significant amount of its ships in the war and wished to be compensated for the pre-war loss of theTitanic. Work at Danzig proceeded very slowly. Finally in autumn 1921, the so-called Columbus Agreement was reached, under which the German government and NDL undertook to facilitate rapid completion of theColumbus in exchange for the British government returning ownership to the NDL of six smaller ships which had spent the war years in South America: the mail shipsSeydlitz andYorck, theGotha, and the cargo shipsGöttingen,Westfalen andHolstein.^[32] The company also began to build new freighters and passenger ships and to buy back other ships.^[33] In late 1921, services to South America was resumed with theSeydlitz, and in early 1922, the East Asian service resumed with theWestfalen. On 12 February 1922, service to New York with their own ships resumed withSeydlitz.^[34] The other ship of the Columbus-class, the 32,354 GRT formerHindenburg, was completed in 1924 and namedColumbus. It was placed in scheduled transatlantic passenger service.

A brief post-war boom was followed by severeinflation in Germany, but despite this, NDL continued to expand its fleet. Twelve new ships of between 8,700 GRT and 11,400 GRT were placed in service for South and Central America and the Far East, and then, in addition to theColumbus, three new ships of between 13,000 GRT and 15,000 GRT were assigned to the North Atlantic (theMünchen,Stuttgart andBerlin). In 1927 the formerZeppelin was purchased back from Great Britain and placed in service as theDresden.^[35]

In 1920,Carl Stimming became director general of NDL, while his predecessor Heineken became chairman of the board. Between 1925 and 1928, the company acquired three German shipping companies: HABAL, theRoland Line, and Argo.^[36][37] The acquisition of the Roland Line brought Ernst Glässel onto the board of directors, where he was to have increasing influence. In 1926, the company were once more able to pay adividend. American credit financed continuing expansion and orders for new ships.

In 1929 and 1930, the company put its two largest ships into service,Bremen (51,656 GRT) andEuropa (49,746 GRT). With an average speed of about 27.9 knots (51.7 km/h), both were to win the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossings.^[28] In 1929, theColumbus was completely refitted.

From 1928 to 1939, the volume of passengers traveling between the U.S. and Europe declined sharply. In 1928, the NDL transported about 8% of a passenger volume of 1,168,414 passengers; in 1932, 16.2% of the 751,592 passengers transported; in 1938, around 11% of 685,655 passengers. In addition, there was significant new competition from new Italian, French and British superliners: the ItalianRex (51,062 GRT) andConte di Savoia (48,502 GRT), the FrenchNormandie (79,280 GRT), and the BritishQueen Mary (80,744 GRT).^[38]

The1929 economic crisis, which began in the U.S., affected German shipping companies. The NDL and the HAPAG therefore entered into a cooperation agreement in 1930, and beginning in 1935, instituted joint operations in the North Atlantic.^[39] The first signs of a merger were visible. By 1932, the NDL was in an economic crisis, with about 5,000 employees laid off, salary cuts, and red ink. Glässel was dismissed. The government placed both NDL and HAPAG in trusteeship underSiegfried von Roedern. Following the death of Stimming,Heinrich F. Albert briefly became head of NDL, followed after some eighteen months by theNational SocialistRudolph Firle.^[40][41] Bremen State CouncillorKarl Lindemann was chairman of the board from 1933 to 1945.^[42] A program of economic recovery by divestments and restructuring was initiated. HBAL and the Roland Line became independent companies once more, and other companies took over services to Africa and the Mediterranean. The Nazi regime ordered both NDL and HAPAG to relinquish ships to other companies which were to operate in their regions without competition from other German companies, in particular toHamburg Süd, theDeutsche Afrika-Linien, and theDeutsche Levante Linie.^[43]

In 1935, theScharnhorst,Gneisenau, andPotsdam, each with about 18,000 GRT, were placed in service for the Far East. The modernization of the fleet continued and the company made modest profits in 1937.

In 1939,Erlangen slipped out ofLyttelton Harbour (New Zealand) on 28 August, on the eve ofWorld War II, ostensibly forPort Kembla, New South Wales, where it was to have filled her coal bunkers for the homeward passage to Europe. It then headed for the subantarcticAuckland Islands, successfully evading the cruiserHMNZS Leander, and re-stocked with food and wood. The freighter then made a desperate and successful escape, using jury-rigged sails, toValparaíso, Chile, in South America.Erlangen then made her way into the South Atlantic where, on 24 July 1941, it was intercepted off Montevideo byHMS Newcastle and scuttled by her crew.^[44]

In 1939, NDL had 70 ships in service totaling 562,371 GRT, including the sail training shipKommodore Johnsen (now the RussianSTS Sedov), 3 daytrip ships, 19 tugs, and 125 small ships. It employed 12,255 people (8,811 on its ships. Nine more freighters were completed after the outbreak of World War II. This entire fleet was either lost during the war or awarded to the Allies as war reparations. TheColumbus was sunk in 1939; theBremen burned in 1941; theSteuben was sunk in the Baltic Sea in 1945 with the loss of some 4,000 lives; theEuropa was claimed by France in 1947, and was renamed theLiberté.^[28]

The German government was the primary stockholder in the company, but in 1941-1942, NDL was once more privatized and a cigarette manufacturerPhilipp Reemtsma became its primary stockholder.^[45] Dr.Johannes Kulenkampff, a board member since 1932, and Richard Bertram, a board member since 1937, became chairman in 1942.

At the end of World War II, the company's headquarters (which had been sold in 1942^[46]) had been severely damaged by bombing and all its large ships had either been destroyed or seized. It was left with only the freighterBogotá, which was in Japan. Relicensed by the American military administration on November 29, 1945 as a "coastal shipping and stevedoring company," it started again, as after World War I, practically from zero, offering tugboat and daytripper services. Kulenkampff and Bertram constituted the Board and there were at first only 350 employees. In 1948, the first Hapag-Lloyd travel agency opened. Business initially consisted of emigration and a limited amount of tourism. Beginning in 1949, German shipping companies were permitted to order and to build ships of up to 7,200 GRT. In 1950, NDL placed its first post-war orders at theBremer Vulkan shipyard for the Rheinstein-class ships (2,791 GRT, 13 knots).^[47]

After the limitations on German shipping imposed by the Allies were lifted in 1951,^[48][49] NDL commenced building a new fleet. First, it purchased older freighters (for example theNabob, a former American auxiliary aircraft carrier) and had new freighters built between 4,000 and 9,000 GRT and 5,000 and 13,000DWT, all with names ending in -stein. The company had routes to Canada, New Orleans, the Canary Islands, and, beginning in 1953, the Far East.

In 1955, NDL resumed passenger service on the North Atlantic routes using a rebuilt 1924 Swedish ship, the 17,993 GRTGripsholm.^[50] RenamedBerlin, it was the sixth German ship of that name, the fourth at NDL. In 1959, the company added the 32,336 GRTBremen (formerlyPasteur) and, in 1965, the 21,514 GRTEuropa (formerlyKungsholm),Gripsholm's sister ship bought from theSwedish American Line.^[28] These ships were first placed in scheduled service to America but were soon transferred to cruising. In 1967, the 10,481 GRT express freighterFriesenstein (21.5 knots) inaugurated the Friesenstein class and replacedNabob andSchwabenstein. Passenger service was running at an increasing deficit, and the rapidly growingcontainer traffic required cost-intensive retooling in the freight business. In 1968, NDL inaugurated a container service to the USA with the 13,384 GRTWeser-Express; two more container ships were added soon afterward.

Around 1960, NDL had 47 ships, a number that remained almost unchanged until 1970. In 1968, its fleet totaled 343,355 GRT (in 1970, 391,313 GRT), and it was the 16th largest shipping company worldwide. HAPAG, with 410,786 GRT, was the 9th largest.^[51] In 1970, NDL had a turnover of 515 million DM and a share capital of 54 million DM, and employed 6,200 people (3,500 of them at sea).^[52]

In 1967, Claus Wätjen and Dr. Horst Willner, and in 1969, Karl-Heinz Sager, joined the Board. Kulenkampff served on the Board until 1968, and Bertram until 1970. Since the NDL was already carrying out three quarters of its freight business in association with HAPAG, a merger of the two largest German shipping companies was entirely logical.^[53]

On September 1, 1970, NDL merged with HAPAG to formHapag-Lloyd AG, based inHamburg with a secondary headquarter in Bremen.^[28][54]

On 20 February 2007, a small group of dedicated, former member of NDL organized a meeting at the Bremer Ratskeller for the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the company. This event was very popular, so it was decided that the meeting would be an annual event. They take place annually on the twentieth of February in Bremen in the former Lloyd's building – today Courtyard Marriott hotel.

• The new company hasLloyd as part of its name.
• TheLloyd Werft in Bremerhaven, with its headquarters in the former laundry facility, continues the memory of the NDL.
• The former company headquarters on Papenstraße was demolished and replaced by a department store in 1969, but the Große Hundestraße on one side of the site was the first street in Bremen to be privatized, and has been roofed with glass to become a pedestrian mall. It is calledLloyd Passage.^[20]
• The Lloyd baggage department building or Lloyd station on Gustav Deetjen Allee at themain station in Bremen, built in 1913 toRudolph Jacobs' design, became Hapag-Lloyd's secondary headquarters. The NDL's company emblem adorns the main entrance.^[55] Almost all company buildings are now in Hamburg and Hanover.^[56]
• TheLloyd Dynamowerke (LDW) in Bremen^[57]
• Buildings in Bremen and Bremerhaven still bear the marks of former use by the NDL.^[58]
• TheBremer Bank, now absorbed byCommerzbank, was founded by Meier to provide financing.

• Hermann Henrich Meier, founder and 1857–1888 first Supervisory Board Chairman of the NDL^[59]
• Eduard Crüsemann; 1857–1869 founder and first director of NDL^[60]
• August Hermann Friedrich Neynaber alias HFA or HAF called Hermann Neynaber; (1822–1899) captain of many liners from 1866 to 1881 (Bremen,Deutschland,Donau,Mosel,Kronprinz Friedrich Wilhelm,Rhein)^[61]
• Johann Georg Lohmann, 1877–1892 Director of NDL^[29][62]
• Hermann Friedrich Bremermann; 1868–1892 Director of the NDL
• Willy Christoffers; Captain from 1886 to 1900
• Georg Plate, from 1887 to the Supervisory Board of the NDL, 1892–1911 Chairman of the NDL
• Dr.Heinrich Wiegand; 1892–1899 Director and 1899–1909 Director-General of NDL^[63]
• Charles Polack, Captain in 1913 of theKronprinzessin Cecilie^[64]
• Dr. Philipp Heineken, Director-General in 1909–1920, 1920–1933 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NDL^[65]
• Carl Joachim Stimming, Director General, 1921–31^[66]
• Arnold Petzet; from 1906 to 1927 on NDL's board, responsible for transport within Germany, establishment of the cruise sector^[67]
• Ernst Glässel; 1926 member of the Lloyd Executive Board, 1931–1932 Chairman of the Board^[68]
• Dietrich Hogemann, commodore who retired in 1913^[69]
• Paul König, 1911 captain, 1916 captain of the U-boat, 1920–1932 Head of the marine department of the NDL^[70]
• Nikolaus Johnsen, captain in 1924 ofColumbus, and in 1930Europa (III), and commodore of the fleet^[71]
• Leopold Ziegenbein, captain and commodore ofBremen (IV)^[72]
• Oskar Scharf, captain on theEuropa (III)^[73][74]
• Adolf Ahrens, captain and commodore ofColumbus andBremen (IV)^[75]
• Dr. Heinrich F. Albert, 1932–1933 Director General of the NDL^[76][77]
• Friedrich Johann Gottfried Hubert Paffrath, 1929-1941 Superintendent
• Karl Lindemann (ex State Council), 1933–1945 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NDL^[78]
• Dr. Rudolph Firle, 1933–1944. Director General of the NDL^[75]
• Dr. Johnannes Kulenkampff; from 1932 Board Member, from 1942 Executive Board member^[53]
• Richard Bertram; from 1937 Board Member, from 1942 Executive Board member^[53]
• Paul Hampel, director of ship maintenance of the NDL of about 1950 to 1970
• Heinrich Lorenz, captain of theBerlin (IV)^[79]
• Günter Rössing, captain of theBremen (V)^[80]

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(December 2008)

This is a list of all ships in service of the NDL. Some of the ships were owned previously by other companies.^[11]

• Bessell, Georg:Norddeutscher Lloyd, 1857–1957: Geschichte einer bremischen Reederei. Bremen: Schünemann, 1957,OCLC 3187889
• Buchholz, Jörn/Focke, Harald:Auf Lloyd-Frachtern. Erinnerungen 1957 bis 1964. Hauschild, Bremen, 2007,ISBN 978-3-89757-374-1
• Focke, Harald:Bremens letzte Liner. Die großen Passagierschiffe des Norddeutschen Lloyd nach 1945. Hauschild, Bremen, 2002,ISBN 3-89757-148-X
• Focke, Harald:Mit dem Lloyd nach New York. Erinnerungen an die Passagierschiffe BERLIN, BREMEN und EUROPA. Hauschild, Bremen, 2004,ISBN 3-89757-251-6
• Focke, Harald: Im Liniendienst auf dem Atlantik. Neue Erinnerungen an die Passagierschiffe BERLIN, BREMEN und EUROPA des Norddeutschen Lloyd. Hauschild, Bremen, 2006,ISBN 978-3-89757-339-0
• Kludas, Arnold:Die Seeschiffe des Norddeutschen Lloyd: 1857–1970 (2 vols). Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Herford, 1991 / 1992
• Reinke-Kunze, Christiane:Die Geschichte der Reichs-Post-Dampfer-Verbindung zwischen den Kontinenten 1886-11914, Herford 1994,ISBN 3-7822-0618-5.
• Wiborg, Susanne, und Klaus Wiborg:1847–1997, Mein Feld ist die Welt – 150 Jahre Hapag-Lloyd, Hapag-Lloyd AG, Hamburg 1997.
• Rübner, Hartmut:Konzentration und Krise der deutschen Schiffahrt. Maritime Wirtschaft im Kaiserreich, in der Weimarer Republik und im Nationalsozialismus. Hauschild, Bremen 2005
• Thiel, Reinhold:Die Geschichte des Norddeutschen Lloyd: 1857–1970 (5 vols). Hauschild, Bremen 2001
• Witthöft, Hans Jürgen:Norddeutscher Lloyd. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Herford, 1973,ISBN 3-7822-0088-8
• Dirk J. Peters (Hrsg.):Der Norddeutsche Lloyd – Von Bremen in die Welt – „Global Player“ der Schifffahrtsgeschichte. Hauschild, Bremen, 2007,ISBN 978-3-89757-360-4

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNorddeutscher Lloyd.

• Fleet information(in German)
• Gallery of NDL's fleets at Norway-Heritage
• Norddeutscher Lloyd Bremen Passenger Lists 1881-1938 GG Archives
• Postcards of NDL
• SS Dresden
• The Last Ocean Liners – North German Lloyd – trade routes and ships of North German Lloyd in the 1950s and 60s
• Documents and clippings about Norddeutscher Lloyd in the20th Century Press Archives of theZBW
• North German Lloyd History and Ephemera GG Archives1881-19271928-19351936-1995
• GG Archives: SS Hohenzollern Brief History and Steerage Passenger List
• GG Archives: SS Neckar (1901) Brief History, Sailing Schedules, Menus, Photographs.
• GG Archives: SS Werra Archival Collection Includes Passenger Lists, Brochures, Passage Contracts, Menus, etc.

• Norddeutscher Lloyd
• Shipping companies of Germany
• Transatlantic shipping companies
• Companies based in Hamburg
• Defunct companies of Germany
• Transport in Bremen (state)
• Transport companies established in 1857
• Transport companies disestablished in 1970
• 1857 establishments in the German Confederation
• 19th-century establishments in Bremen
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