Hapag Lloyd AG is a Germany-based company primarily engaged in the marine freight and logistics sector. It is one of the leading and globally active container liner shipping companies. The Company focuses on providing liner services between all continents. Its fleet comprises container vessels with capacity up to 1,789,399 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).

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The History of Hapag-Lloyd

The roots of Hapag-Lloyd AG stretch far back into the 19th century, when the founding companies-Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hapag) and North German Lloyd – put their first ships to sea carrying general cargo and passengers to New York.

HAPAG

HAPAG, often referred to as the Hamburg America Line or Hamburg-American Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. It soon developed into the largest German, and at times the world's largest, shipping company, serving the market created by German immigration to the United States and later, immigration from Eastern Europe. 

However, HAPAG lost almost the entirety of its fleet twice, as a result of World Wars I and II.

North German Lloyd

Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) was formed in 1857 in the City-State of Bremen, offering passenger and cargo transportation between Bremen and New York, with an emphasis on emigration to the United States. Service started in June 1858 with the Bremen, the first of four steamships.

The outbreak of World War I and II resulted in the internment of vessels in US ports, leaving the company to start over from scratch.

On 1 September 1970, after 123 years of independent existence, HAPAG merged with the North German Lloyd to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.

Since the two companies merged in 1970 to become Hapag-Lloyd, they developed the container shipping aspect of the business. By 1998 the company had become a subsidiary of the larger TUI AG, a company headquartered in Hanover, Germany. In addition to shipping, Hapag-Lloyd operates a cruise line with four ships. The company also has a charter airline, which was originally intended to be used to fly passengers to cruise ports of call.

Hapag-Lloyd: Notable Mergers & acquisitions

As with other container shipping giants, Hapag-Lloyd has been envolved in mergers and acquisitions during its global expansion. The most famous one is the merger of United Arab Shipping Company (UASC).

The merger was agreed upon in 2016, and the two companies were integrated in 2017. At the time of the merger, UASC claimed to be the world's tenth largest liner shipping company, with a fleet of 56 ships and a market share of 2.7%. As a result of the merger, Hapag-Lloyd boosted its vessel capacity and surpassed Taiwan's Evergreen Line to become the world's 5th largest container transporter.

Hapag-Lloyd: Business in China

In 1996, Hapag-Lloyd (China) Shipping Ltd. established its headquarter for North and Central China in Shanghai, with branch offices in Ningbo, Tianjin, Qingdao, Nanjing, and representative offices in Dalian, Wuhan and Chongqing.