Last modified: 2019-08-10 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: rhederei-ag 1896 | rhederei-vgg | rhein-fracht | rhein-lloyd | rheinischer lloyd | rheinische tank | rheinkies-baggerei | rhein-ruhr-hafen | rhein- und seeschiffahrts ges | rheintrans | rheinunion transport |
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image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 28 Mar 2007 |
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 11 July 2019 |
The company was established by the ship brokers Axel Dahlström und Willy Dahlström. It was a small company since 1906, when all the ships of B.Wencke Söhne were bought. The company's last sailing ship was confiscated by US government in 1917. The company existed until 1927 as a shipping company only having steamers.
The company used a quarterly divided flag white, red, red and white. In its centre was a white black edged ellipse (see left image above) or in a(bigger) disc(see right image above) of the same, with black numerals "1896" inside.
Sources: Jürgen Meyer: "Hamburger Segelschiffe von 1795-1945"; ISBN 3-89225-400-1; Hamburg 1999; p.170ff. and Flaggenbuch 1905, part V, p.13, image no.137
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 28 Mar 2007 / 11 July 2019
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag
of "Rhederei-Vereinigung GmbH" (#140, p. 43), a company based in Hamburg,
as red with a green saltire.
Ivan Sache, 30 Mar 2008
I encountered the striking house flag of Mannheim-based Rhein-Fracht GmbH ('Rhinefreight') on this page: Made up of seven black and yellow horizontal stripes (four black and three yellow), the flag also contains a yellow canton with a descending red diagonal.
The black and yellow colours seem to recall Württemberg, the red diagonal on yellow certainly represents Baden. See it in action here, tiny but recognizable - i.e. entry of Wed. 20 July 2005, three photos of barges named ?Ventura? and/or ?Nautilus?, about 3/4 down the page.
Details on the company can be found here:
VTG Lehnkering Reederei took over Rhein-Fracht in 1999, thereby strengthening
its position as a chemical and petrochemical tanker company. Forty barges
joined the fleet, not counting long-standing relationships with privately
operated barges.
More takeovers are reported here.
In 1999 about 80% of the VTG Lehnkering shares had just been bought
by Hapag-Lloyd at the moment of the Rhein-Fracht takeover. In 2002,
this became 100% only to be bought up ? again, and all of it ? by Compagnie
Europ?enne de Wagons S. A. at Luxembourg in 2005.
What I have not found out is when Rhein-Fracht was founded. Also it
would be nice to have confirmation of the reasons for the flag design.
Jan Mertens, 24 Mar 2006
Lloyd AG; Basel and its daughters
The basic colour of all flags was yellow, superimposed by four or five
black stripes.
Rhein-Lloyd GmbH; Mannheim
Was founded by Lloyd AG, Basel as a German daughter, probably in 1935.
Klaus-Peter Bühne; translated by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 27 Mar 2009
I do not know whether the 'Rheinischer Lloyd' (Duisburg-Ruhrort), as
found in ?Flaggen auf dem Rhein? (1952 ed.) has anything to do with its
current namesake at Duisburg (DE) using as second name ?Ernst Peter Schwarzlose
Reederei- und Transportges. mbH?.
This ?Rhenish Lloyd? (as of 1952) also flew a house flag in the ?Lloyd
Seeschiffahrt? pattern: seven black and yellow horizontal stripes with
a local emblem in the canton (archivexillum).
See image: the local element, rendered rather roughly, shows part of
the Duisburg municipal arms in white outline on a red field, four stripes
high.
Consult Ralf Hartemink?s
site for these arms ? either the 1952 picture is incomplete, or only
the ?characteristic? part, the castle (in a rendering with perspective)
was used in the canton:
I could not find any interesting photo or relevant information. (To
complicate matters, a ?family member?, ?Rhein-Lloyd?, is at that period
of time active at Mannheim under a similar flag.)
Jan Mertens, 30 Aug 2008
Lloyd AG; Basel and its daughters
The basic colour of all flags was yellow, superimposed by four or five
black stripes.
Rheinischer Lloyd GmbH; Duisburg-Ruhrort
Was founded later by Rhein-Lloyd Gmbh; Mannheim as a local branch company.
Klaus-Peter Bühne; translated by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 27 Mar 2009
RTR or ?Rheinische Tankreederei GmbH? (i.e. Rhenish Tanker Shipping
Co.) was a German, Düsseldorf-based firm owned it seems by Van Es, a Dutch
firm related ? as so many others ? to Van
Ommeren. I gather RTR was active during the nineteen sixties/eighties.
As the Binnenvaart site no longer yields its (interesting and noteworthy)
images so easily it is
hard to be more specific. No photo either.
However the RTR house flags is still up ? a direct
link, while it lasts.
Van Ommeren archivexillum ? five
horizontal stripes RWRWR and a white rhomb in the centre bearing black
initials ?RTR? without serifs, placed vertically.
Jan Mertens, 14 Apr 2009
A simple flag for a firm with a very long name ? see this
website (German only): Rheinkies-Baggerei Wesel Dr. Wolfgang Boettger
GmbH & Co KG meaning ?Rhine Gravel Dredging Co. Wesel (etc.)" Wesel
being a town on the Rhine/Lippe confluence (West of the Ruhr industrial
area) and Boettger being the name of the family currently owning the firm.
Founded in 1919 as ?Kiesmutung GmbH? to be renamed shortly afterwards
Kies-Gesellschaft mbH as a riverine gravel dredging company (Rhine, Lippe)
using advanced equipment. In 1926 a blue flag bearing a white "K"
was adopted. Several owners were succeeded 1943 by Dr. Wolfgang Boettger
who died in 1981, leaving the firm to his family.
Inland vessels and lorries bring sand, gravel, and related products
to the Rhine region and the Netherlands. From 1975 on river dredging
was abandoned to the advantage of mining without, however, dropping waterway
transportation. (I do not know if Rheinkies actually owned ships
or preferred working through private shipowers.). The ?Renovation? section
(?Restaurierung?, left menu) explains how the emptied sand and gravel mining
areas are treated afterwards, see also ?Referenzen? (i.e. references) showing
newly created ponds or lakes and even winter quarters for bats!
Hence the written sentence accompanying the flag image ?We create nature
preservation areas.?
I found the flagimage on German eBay: this was offer no. 160175883122
(end 9 Nov 2007) put up by ?maiti35?. Dark blue field, white initial
'K' without serifs.
Jan Mertens, 10 Sep 2008
This was a mere table flag and although the company site does show the
flag(oid) I am happy to report that the item is presented in "Flaggen auf
dem Rhein", 1952 ed. There, the caption is: 'Rheinkies-Baggerei Wesel Dr.
Wolfgang Boettger, Birten über Xanten'. Birten was merged into Xanten
(on the Rhine) in 1969.
Jan Mertens, 10 Nov 2008
Offered and identified by a specialized source, MarCollect, another
item was recently on view on German eBay: Rhein Ruhr Hafen (i.e. port),
Duisburg.
This one preceded duisport - introduced in 2000 - and was termed, humourously,
a ?late historic? product (offer no. 160102554054, end 12 April 2007).
It shows a white table flag bearing a blue logo (two tones of blue,
actually) resembling a lowercase initial ?r? (vivid blue or even turquoise)
turning upwards and changing into an arrow of five stems (dark blue).
Jan Mertens, 24 Apr 2007
Lloyd's Book of House Flags and Funnels (1912) shows the house flag
of "Rhein- & Seeschiffahrtsgesellschaft" (#319, p. 52), a company based
in Cologne, as
blue with a white "W" in the middle.
The company was mentioned with two other in the Brockhaus' Konversationslexicon
(1894-1896), entry "Köln" (Cologne). The Prussian state took shares in
the company in 1912.
The house flag of the company can be seen, hoisted over the ship "Energie",
on a painting by R. Wahl dated 1887, kept in the Municipal
Museum "Warleberger Hof", Kiel.
Ivan Sache, 27 Apr 2008
?Rheintrans Reederei, Transport und Speditions-GmbH & Co. KG? at Duisburg has an impressive name for an inland shipping company. It was founded in 1959 and has a beautiful house flag. See the company site. In all, these pages are rather more dedicated to the advantages of barges above trucks, the evolution of order transmission from river agencies (loudhailers!) over radio to mobile phone, and a list of satisfied customers thanks to delivering an array of goods ranging from scrap metal to porcelain.
The company flag rather resembles a municipal or county flag. Divided by a white cross throughout and having red above blue corners in the hoist, counterchanged in the fly; in the centre is placed a white shield bearing a red lion, rampant and double-tailed, with yellow tongue and bearing a yellow crown.
?Limburg? is what I think when seeing that lion but at the moment I
do not know more about its meaning. There is a ?Rheintrans BV? at
Rotterdam, Netherlands, but which is the main firm and which the subsidiary?
Jan Mertens, 8 Apr 2006
In the centre is a white shield shaped area (tall rectangle with pointy corners at the top and rounded ones at the bottom) with a red Benelux-style lion on it. The width of the cross bars seems to be around 2/9ths of the rectangle's height.
Source: this archive page
António Martins-Tuválkin, 13 Mar 2016
Nothing to do with that Napoleonic creation, the Confederation of the
Rhine; rather, Rheinunion is one more German inland navigation firm now
become history.
A simple house flag shows four slanting lines meeting in the flag?s
centre to form a cross shape, yellow on black.
The Dutch Binnenvaart
site features some barges used by this company, in full ?Rheinunion
Transport GmbH? based at Mannheim, see for instance the ?Citerna 50? (flag
shown on page).
Piecing together this firm?s history is difficult, but there are some
traces on the net: here
and here.
The oldest Rheinunion vessel mentioned on Binnenvaart was launched in 1942;
the firm operated typical bulk boats but also tankers and a bunkering boat;
moreover there were a number of owned loading quays in Duisburg, Cologne,
Mainz, etc. In 1975 Rheinunion was taken over by a major player,
Rhenania.
Jan Mertens, 21 Aug 2006
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