Albert Ballin News

TUI Group, the world’s number one tourism group, will invest in two new-builds for its Hamburg-based subsidiary Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. The two, new, 5-star expedition vessels are scheduled for launch in April and October 2019, respectively, following 20 months of construction. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed. Sebastian Ebel, member of the Executive Board of TUI Group in charge of Cruises: “The cruise business is one of the key elements of TUI’s growth strategy. Our ambitions are underpinned by our investment in the two new ships for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. Karl J. Pojer, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises: “The former director Albert Ballin invented the modern cruise concept 125 years ago.

The 125 years old German cruise operator, Hapag-Lloyd, has unveiled new branding, along with a modest name change, that will help promote the luxury cruise line to a global audience. Effective immediately, the old Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten name has been changed to Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, in a bid to attract a worldwide audience, rather than just German speaking guests. 125 years after the first Hapag-Lloyd cruise to the Mediterranean from Hamburg aboard the steamer Augusta Victoria, the new branding will help continue the historic legacy of the German cruise line. “We are proud of our long-standing corporate history and we feel even today the innovation and spirit of discovery Albert Ballin joined.

Vacations on a ship – 125 years ago that was considered revolutionary. What many don’t know is that the modern cruises already started in 1891 – on a Hapag ship. On a cold January morning, nearly 125 years ago, nobody could have guessed that the idea would turn into such a success story. In any case, on January 22, 1891, it seemed as if all of Cuxhaven had turned out to marvel at the group of “intrepid travelers” ­ making their way up the gangway of Hapag’s flagship, the “Augusta…

Hapag-Lloyd Holding AG will merge with Hapag-Lloyd AG, retrospective with effect from January 1, 2013. “This step is taken in order to simplify the group structure of Hapag-Lloyd and does not have any impact on shareholder equity”, said Jürgen Weber, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG. Shareholders of Hapag-Lloyd, TUI-Hapag Beteiligungs GmbH (TUI AG) and Hamburgische Seefahrtsbeteiligung “Albert Ballin“ GmbH & Co KG (“Albert Ballin“ consortium), now hold a direct share in Hapag-Lloyd AG. The merger has no impact on consolidated financial statements of Germany’s largest liner shipping company. The holding structure was set up during the takeover of the majority of Hapag-Lloyd by the Hamburg-based “Albert Ballin“ consortium in 2008/09.

“Hapag-Lloyd, the management and all the employees are delighted with the solution and are pleased that this agreement was reached so fast”, Michael Behrendt, Chief Executive Officer of Hapag-Lloyd AG, said following the announcement that an agreement had been reached between TUI AG and the “Albert Ballin” consortium regarding the purchase of Hapag-Lloyd shares. Hapag-Lloyd is the port of Hamburg’s most important customer. Together with its partner shipping companies, who also operate services to Hamburg through Hapag-Lloyd, the Company accounts for approximately half of all container handling there. It has five Asian partners thanks to the Grand Alliance which was initiated back in 1997 and the G6 Alliance which is scheduled to start in March of this year.

In the traditionally weak first quarter Hapag-Lloyd managed to boost revenues by comparison with the same period of the previous year by 16.5 percent to 1.483 million euros. The main reason for this achievement was a ten percent rise to 1,563 USD/TEU in the average freight rate. Transport volume was two percent up on the 2010 first quarter at 1.2 million TEU. Active yield management enabled Hapag-Lloyd to concentrate successfully on profitable cargo, foregoing transports of inferior price quality.