History of Argo Reederei - Bremen

[Dierk Bauer]

History of Argo Reederei, Bremen
Source: Wikipedia, german edition http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_Reederei , translated with a bit of help by Google Translator

The Argo Reederei , ( Argo Reederei Richard Adler & Söhne ) used to be an important German shipping company, based at Bremen. Main focus of the activities was the Liner-Service within Europe , in particular the trade to Finland , the UK and the Levant .

History
The shipping company emerged from the steamship company Argo AG, founded in 1896. The Argo AG was conducted from 1896 to 1920 by Friedrich Bischoff . A year after its foundation the Liner-Service of the Norddeutscher Lloyd to the UK was taken over . With a fleet of 30 ships and a tonnage of 44 504 BRT in the year1914, Argo arose to become the fourth largest shipping company in Bremen. In 1922, the Argo was taken over by the Roland Line which itself passed, a year later, into the possession of the Norddeutscher Lloyd . The Argo ceased to exist as an independent company .

In the year 1933,as part of the reorganization of the German liner shipping activities, the Argo Reederei AG , initially 100 % owned by the Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen and led by Richard Adler, was established . The company was separated from the Norddeutscher Lloyd in the year 1934 and placed in private hands. The ownership changed in favor of the Adler family and since 1936 renamed in Argo Reederei Richard Adler & Co. At the beginning of World War II , the shipping company had 44 vessels with a tonnage of 54 270 GRT.

Adler set up too the Adler Shipyard as a harbor workshop of the Argo Reederei , which was destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt 1946 in the Europahafen at Bremen. In 1949 , after moving on the Stephanikirchenweide , they built ships mostly for Argo Reederei . The shipyard existed until 1964 and remained in the possession of Adler.

After the war, in 1952 the Argo Nah-Ost Linien GmbH was founded , in order to perceive the interests of the shipping company in the the Levant trade. In the same year the Argo Reederei Richard Adler & Söhne was founded . In order to build up their own fleet , the Adler shipyard at Bremen was taken over.. The Aquila , the largest ship of the company was built there too.

In the year 1961 the company boss Richard Adler died. The company was led by his sons Max and Richard , but a short time later they went their separate ways . With 35 ships and 53 442 BRT , the Company reached its zenith.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the shipping company gave up more and more of their regular Liner-services. In 1986, the shares of the Levant trade were passed on to the Hamburg Süd and in in 1992 the last own ship in Finland Service was sold. Since 1996, the England Service was only operated with one vessel . This unit too was sold when the business activities were given up in the year 2002.