As part of their "175 Years of Rickmers in Shipping" anniversary, Hamburg shipowners and businessmen Bertram and Erck Rickmers have donated $1.4m to the World Future Council (WFC).
“On the occasion of the family’s 175th anniversary we would like to pay tribute to the past and at the same to make a contribution to the future," the brothers explained. "Consistent support of sustainable thinking and acting for the benefit of future generations is only possible at a global level. This is why we want to support the international work of the Hamburg-based World Future Council," the Rickmers brothers added, detailing their reason for supporting the WFC. The cheque was presented to WFC founder and board chairman Jakob von Uexküll.
Uexküll thanked them sincerely for their support. "The WFC," he stated, "fills a gap among international organisations by conducting research into forward-looking solutions and supporting their implementation directly all over the world."
The handover of the cheque took place during the Senate reception held in honour of brothers Bertram and Erck Rickmers in the large banquet room of Hamburg’s town hall. Addressing 450 international guests, Ole von Beust, Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, expressed appreciation of the longstanding family tradition and the current contribution made by the Rickmers companies to the maritime industry in Hamburg. Bertram and Erck Rickmers are the fifth generation of the Rickmers family to work in shipping. They run two separate groups of companies and between them employ over 5,000 people on land and at sea.
(www.rickmers.com)
(www.worldfuturecouncil.org)