Deutsche Ost-Afrika Linie

Founding

In 1888, the board of the trading firm Woermann-Linie made plans to set up a scheduled service to East Africa as the existing routes were dominated by British lines. The following year the Reichstag approved such a shipping line and in January 1890 the Chancellor began looking for a German shipping company to set up a line to Africa subsidized for over ten years with 900,000 marks a year. As no company was ready, the Reich announced the establishment of a shipping company.

On 19 April 1890 DOAL was founded with a capital of six million marks by a consortium of German banks and the Hamburg merchants Adolph Woermann, F. Laeisz, August Bolten, and Hansen & Co. C. Woermann took over the management with Adolph Woermann as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. The line began operating on 23 July 1890 with two steamships bought from the Woermann line. Beginning in 1891, the service consisted of weekly departures from Hamburg via the Mediterranean to Bombay and Zanzibar.

Early years

The first years of operation were difficult due to the British takeover of Zanzibar in November 1890 and the loss of two ships in the first three years. By 1894 the routes were extended to South Africa, and profits were posted for the first time. In 1900 the government contract with annual subsidies of 1.35 million marks was extended by 15 years and the share capital increased to ten million marks. In 1901, a bond for five million marks was issued to build more ships.

In 1894 the company added a route from Hamburg to Durban in South Africa via the Cape and commissioned for this service Herzog (1896, 4,933 GRT) and Koenig. In 1895 DOAL introduced instead the new steamships on the route Hamburg – Suez – Dar es Salaam, and from 1898 also Durban was connected via Suez, no longer via Cape Town, in order to avoid a clash with the British. Only from 1901, when the Boer War was no longer a political obstacle, a new 'Rund-um-Afrika' (round Africa) route was operated by DOAL on the circuit Hamburg – Bremerhaven – Cape Town – Suez – Hamburg and in reverse direction. For this main line the Kronprinz and Kurfürst were introduced, steamships with a grey hull, white superstructure and a buff funnel, topped with an arrangement of black/white/red rings, referring to the colours of the flag of the German Empire.

More difficult years followed until 1907, as new competitors appeared and the British lines increased competition. DOAL and Woermann Line then responded to an offer by Albert Ballin to form a joint venture with Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). HAPAG and Woermann took part in the operation of DOAL, and each allocated one or two ships for an extension of the line from South Africa to West Africa. Woermann Line was involved in the shared service and in 1908 the Hamburg-Bremen Africa Line also joined. The increased number of departures improved business.

After the death of Adolph Woermann in 1911, Eduard Woermann succeeded him. In 1914 the company's fleet consisted of 22 steamships, totalling about 110,000 GRT.