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Hülskens & Ruhrmann (German Shipping Company)

Hülskens
Kanalspeditions- und Handelsgesellschaft
Rheinisch-Westfälische BSG Ruhrmann
Heinr. Elskes KG
Neusser Kies- und Sandbaggerei

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Hülskens

image by Eugene Ipavec, 28 May 2006

Another flag in this photo, the one with the cogwheel and initial ‘H’, belongs to the German firm Hülskens GmbH & Co. KG. The main Hülskens office is located at Wesel, where the Lippe River joins the Rhine, to the North-West of the Ruhr area (Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, etc.).

Company website (access point after Flash introduction): The flag is faintly visible in centre background. It is divided per saltire white (left and right triangles) and blue (upper and lower triangles); in the centre is placed a black cogwheel enclosing a red initial ‘H’. The blue triangles have a diminished surface as there are curved cut-outs surrounding the cogwheel, fimbriating it as it were.

The firm was founded by Gerhard Hülskens and two partners at the end of the 19th Century, in order to execute construction works on rivers, canals, and harbours, in the Rhine area. Later, after ferroconcrete was invented, the sand and gravel business (including their production) and of course concrete became a very important trade.

Nowadays waterway construction works continue and the site offers an overview of techniques and material (section “Wasserbau”). Most other sections are concerned with construction materials but interesting in its own right is the “Logistik Handel” (logistics and trade) section. Two flagoids are shown, both of them variants of above house flag.
Jan Mertens, 26 May 2006

Kanalspeditions- und Handelsgesellschaft

image by Eugene Ipavec, 28 May 2006

Schiffahrt (shipping) is the responsibility of the ‘Kanalspeditions- und Handelsgesellschaft (Canal Transportation and Trading Co.) mbH’. Initial ‘K’ in cogwheel, for ‘Kanal’ I suppose. Owned by Hülskens and Ruhrmann and founded in 1953, the firm is specialized in bulk goods transportation mainly on the Rhine and German canals.
Source: This photo.
Jan Mertens, 26 May 2006

Rheinisch-Westfälische BSG Ruhrmann

image by Eugene Ipavec, 28 May 2006

Hafenumschlag (harbour transhipment) is the competence of the ‘Rheinisch-Westfälische Baustoff- und Speditions-Gesellschaft Ruhrmann (Rhenish-Westfalian Construction Material and Transportation Company Ruhrmann) GmbH & Co. KG’. The cogwheel contains the initial ‘B’ referring to ‘Baustoff’ I suppose. Ruhrmann was founded in 1929 for sand and gravel transporation in Westfalia.
Source: This photo.
Jan Mertens, 26 May 2006

Heinr. Elskes KG

image by Eugene Ipavec, 5 Aug 2008

Now engaged in concrete producing, transporting and buiding, the firm ‘Elskes Transportbeton’ has a website integrated into that of the mother company, Hülskens Holding, and we recognize the “initial inside cogwheel” symbol – in this case an ‘E’ – as applied by Hülskens.

But according to the brochure ‘Ausbau des Rheins’, Heinr(ich) Elskes K.G., situated at Duisburg, was active in extending the Rhine near Düsseldorf between 1969 and 1973. So I am attaching a drawing published in above brochure of what may called a house flag. As in the case of Hülskens, the flag is divided per saltire (blue upper and lower triangles, white left and right) and has a black cogwheel in the centre enclosing a red initial in this case ‘E’. The cogwheel is fimbriated; the emblem is shown larger than Hülskens does now.
Jan Mertens, 5 Jan 2007

Neusser Kies- und Sandbaggerei

image by Eugene Ipavec, 6 Aug 2008

A nice find in "Flaggen auf dem Rhein" (p. 74) was "Neusser Kies- and Sandbaggerei GmbH" meaning, literally, a gravel and sand dredging company established at Neuss, a town situated on the Rhine directly opposite Düsseldorf. This flag reminds of Hülskens and Elskes, as well as the general pattern of the house flag: divided per saltire (blue upper and lowermost, white left and right) with a black cogwheel in the centre enclosing a red initial.
In all, four initials were treated: "H", "B", "K", and "E" (photographic evidence of "H" only). The Neuss company, obviously related to the others, has a "N" within the cogwheel shape.
Although the Hülskens homepage gives a nice overview of its gravel and sand dredging activities, NKuS is not mentioned and I have not found any further trace - but in 1952, at least, the flag was still flying!
Jan Mertens, 6 Sep 2007

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