Hamburg Süd

In 1871, Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft (Hamburg–South America Steam Shipping Company, or Hamburg South America Line) was established by a conglomerate of 11 Hamburg-based merchant houses. Three steam-ships totalling 4,000 GRT provided a monthly shipping service to Brazil and Argentina.

By 1914, the company was operating over 50 ships, totaling about 325,000 GRT. World War I culminated in the loss of all Hamburg Süd's ships, and the company was forced to begin again by chartering ships.

The early 1950s saw the company embark on tramp shipping and tanker shipping, and caused the large growth of refrigerated cargo. In 1955, the Dr. August Oetker company took over the entity, and began rapid expansion on its liner and passenger services.

The takeover of Deutsche Levante Linie in 1956 saw the company commence its first foray into the Mediterranean. In 1957, liner services began between North America and Australia/New Zealand, with the Columbus New Zealand being the first container ship to ply trade lanes in the region in 1971, pioneering containerization in the Pacific.

Hamburg Süd also owned Brazilian operator Aliança. It has taken over many companies over the years including Ellerman, Kien Hung, South Seas Steamship, Deutsche-Nah-Ost-Linie, Royal Mail Line, Pacific Steam Navigation Company, Swedish Laser Lines, Rotterdam Zuid-America Lijn (RZAL), Havenlijn and the Inter-America services of Crowley American Transport, and in 2015 the Chilean CCNI.

In the past parts of Hamburg Süd have been known as Columbus Line. Since 2004, the services of Columbus Line are directly integrated into Hamburg-Süd.

The current container fleet of dry boxes has a distinctive red color with a huge flag and white HAMBURG SÜD logo on the side. The refrigerated boxes are white with the flag and navy blue lettering.

Hamburg Sud bought 25.000 containers and the CCL trade mark of the Italian Genoise Shipping Company CCL - Costa Container Line, based in Genoa Port, on 1st December 2007.