House Flags of German Shipping Companies (g) - part 1

Deutsche Reedereiflaggen (g) Teil 1

Last modified: 2014-03-10 by german editorial team
Keywords: gabel | gaiser | gall seitz | garms | gefo | gemco | gemeinwirtschaftliche kohlen hg | gerhard hey | gerhard brzoska | gerhardt(ej) | german tanker | gesamt hafen bg hamburg | geuther | g |
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• C.G. Gabel
• G. L. Gaiser
• Gall & Seitz
• O.Garms & Sohn
• GEFO
• GEMCO
• Gemeinwirtschaftliche Kohlen HandelsGesellschaft
• Gerhard & Hey
• Gerhard U. Brzoska
• E.J.Gerhardt
• German Tanker Shipping
• Gesamt Hafen Betriebsgesellschaft mbh Hamburg
• Karl Geuther
• Otto Giese

• House Flags of German Shipping Companies
• House Flags of Shipping Companies
• Germany

C.G. Gabel

C.G.Gabel - Christian Gustav Gabel was partner of the shipping company Knöhr & Burchard which still exists. Sometimes he supplied ships on his own risk in the 80ies and 90ies of the 19th century. He acquired his 1st ship in 1882. The last ship was sold in 1909 and the company disappeared.
The company used nearly the same flag as Japan. Its a white flag with a red roundel in its centre. The flag should probably mark the connections with Knöhr und Burchard who used a blue roundel.
Source: Jürgen Meyer: "Hamburger Segelschiffe von 1795-1945"; ISBN 3-89225-400-1; Hamburg 1999; p.89ff.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 31 Mar 2007

G. L. Gaiser

The flag is white with a red border all around and black initials along the center, reading "GLG". And the caption seems to be "G. L. Gaiser".
Jorge Candeias, 1 Jan 2005

It must have been a firm engaged in trading with Nigeria, founded around 1850 and still active in the 1960's... according to a few faint traces on the internet...
Jan Mertens, 2 Jan 2005

Gall & Seitz

Gall & Seitz Systems GmbH of Hamburg, Germany, fit into the house flag scheme on the strength of their ship repair business, otherwise the firm is kept busy enough as a provider of pipe systems and remanufacturing spare parts. Gall & Seitz cooperate with NDS (Nippon Diesel Service). For further information click here
The house flag is divided per saltire, white (hoist, fly) and blue (top,bottom); in the centre is placed a black cogwheel encircling a black ampersand "&"neatly connecting the company initials "G" (hoist) and "S" (fly), also black.
Jan Mertens, 3 Jun 2011

O.Garms & Sohn

O.Garms & Sohn
The company was located in Königreich (Jork, SW Hamburg). It was a yellow flag divided horizontally  yellow over white over red over blue over red over white over yellow with estimated ratio of 2:1:1:12:1:1:2. In the middle of the blue stripe is a red capital "G".
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957; p.F9.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 11 Apr 2009

GEFO

GEFO Gesellschaft für Oeltransporte m.b.H. & Co., Hamburg - blue - yellow - blue horizontal triband; in center black "GEFO".
Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995 [lgr95]
Jarig Bakker, 9 Nov 2005

GEFO is  ?Company for Oil Transportation Ltd?. Firm?s website: The various departments are neatly summed up: deep-sea transportation of chemicals, gas tankers (based at Sas van Gent, NL), chemicals (based at Merksem/Antwerp, BE), oil ("80 Rhinetankers for mineral oil") and bunkering. Of the branches or firms mentioned under ?The Company? I still have to get to know Unitas at Antwerp or Oceanflag Cyprus; Hansa Hamburg is a shipping investor.

It is clear that GEFO is active on the high seas as well as on inland waterways.  This is a picture of the barge "Rubens", flying the house flag: horizontally divided blue-yellow-blue with GEFO in black letters on the yellow stripe.
Jan Mertens, 13 Mar 2006

GEMCO

GEMCO Schiffahrts- und Handelsges. mbH (Gemco Shipping and Trading Co. Ltd) is a German inland navigation company established in Duisburg, where the Ruhr River meets the Rhine.
Last year, a Gemco flag was offered on eBay under no. 6535951662 between 29 May and 8 June: a green flag with a white ascending diagonal stripe on which is placed the (short) company name in green letters without serifs. Oddly, the firm?s website shows the letters in black:

Some facts gleaned from above site: during the ?fifties of the previous century, Mr G. Möller established a towage firm bearing his name. As ?Gerd Möller & Co.? the company expanded its inland shipping activities to the Benelux countries. Mr Günter Ohm joined the firm in 1987 which he would acquire eight years later.  France was added to the area of operations.
It seems that now more than three hundred private shippers from four countries are working for Gemco who arrange single transport runs as well as long-term deals.  The company lists a number of various kinds of freight but summarizes them, simply, as all goods which may be carried by a vessel.
Jan Mertens, 5 Apr 2006

Gemeinwirtschaftliche Kohlen HandelsGesellschaft

Gemeinwirtschaftliche Kohlen HandelsGesellschaft mbH (belongs to K.R. Fisser & v. Doornum)
The company was located in Emden. It is a red over white over red horizontal triband with red capitals "GKGL" in the white stripe.
Source: "Deutsche Reedereien und ihre Erkennungszeichen"; 2nd ed.; Hamburg; 1956; p.19
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 29 Mar 2009

Gerhard U. Brzoska

Gerhard U. Brzoska, Stade - horizontal RWR; on white blue diamond, white "GUB".
Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995 [lgr95]
Jarig Bakker, 23 Nov 2005

Gerhard & Hey

This one is a red flag with the initials "G&M", in white, along the centre. The caption is more or less readable: "Gerhart" is pretty clear and the rest seems to be "& Mry.", probably an abbreviation of some sort..
Jorge Candeias, 28 Nov 2004

Also in the 1912 Lloyds as No. 729: i.e. Gerhard & Hey, Hamburg.
Jan Mertens, 29 Nov 2004

Gerhard & Hey, Hamburg - red flag, white "G&H".
Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship Companies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26]
Jarig Bakker, 28 Jan 2005

E.J.Gerhardt

E.J.Gerhardt, Schifffahrt & Verwaltung GmbH
The company is located at Rügenweg 13 in Minden/Westfalen.
Ernst J. Gerhardt was born in 1942 in Zehdenick/Havel. He worked as a crewman and later as a captain on the ships of his parent?s company.
In 1973 he bought his first own ship. In 1977 he bought a bigger one, which was chartered by TG ELBIA.
Gerhardt was member of the board of ELBIA Eilfracht TG e.G. and in the association of independent entrepreneurs/employers and had a few honorary posts in inland shipping associations.
In 1984 he established his own company in Minden, mainly dealing with tanker shipping.
He is member of the tanker ship commission under the roof of BDB.
In 2003 he and Martin Deymann (Haren) founded the Tankschiffsreederei Gerhardt & Deymann. But the cooperation wasn?t successful. Rhough Belgian company INTERMARES joined G&D the cooperation between Gerhardt & Deymann ended in 2006.
Source: Klaus-Peter Bühne, translated by Klaus-Michael Schneider.

Description of flag: It is a 5-stripes flag with alternating, horizontal stripes of red and white. A white lying oval, taking nearly total height of flag, is superimposing the stripes. The oval has a broad yellow fimbriation and the company?s logo, consisting of the letters ?E?,?J? and ?G?(bigger).
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 27 Mar 2009

E.J.Gerhardt Schifffahrt & Verwaltung GmbH. On their website there are a couple of flag images, which show the oval having straight top and bottom sides and also that the letters are slanted.
The funnel is coloured as per the flag but with the letters erect but shows their makeup in clearer detail. I have two photos of  vessels flying the flag, in one the letters look slanted whilst in the other they look erect, but with both flapping it is inconclusive.
Neale Rosanoski, 10 Apr 2009

German Tanker Shipping

German Tanker Shipping was established in Bremen in 1998. The company operates 12 tankers, all of them sailing under the German flag, named after sea fishes (MT "Seaturbot" to MT "Seamarlin").

The house flag of German Tanker Shipping, shown as a graphic on the company website, is quartered per saltire blue-white with the letters "G" and "T" in the left and right white quarters, respectively.
Ivan Sache, 7 Mar 2008

See the full size item on this clickable photo: (not a very common font for a house flag).  The flag on the right represents the Lindenau wharf at Kiel.
Jan Mertens, 7 Mar 2008

Gesamt Hafen Betriebsgesellschaft mbh Hamburg (GHB)

The company is located in Hamburg and had been established after a special law (GHB Gesetz) had been adopted by the parliament of Hamburg in 1951. The company is a temporary imployment agency (Personaldienstleister), which is not quite correct. Currently, i.e. 2012 there are 1100 permanent employees and another 250 members employed temporarily.At the beginning of the 20th century the demand for dock workers in Hamburg port was fluctuating heavily. Thus great part of the business was done by day labouers. Imponderabilties and the conflicts resulting from them needed a better solution. To give the workers more security finally the GHB had been established in order to give day labouers the opportunity to gain a permanent job. The GHB is leasing her staff to any place in the harbour area, today not only workers but also clerks. Source:company webpage

Former company flags

Flag#1 (doubtful):
It is a red over white over red triband. A black lozenge without points is in the middle of the white stripe. In the lozenge are white capitals "G"(top and bottom),"H"(left) and "B"(right).
Source: I spotted an image of the flag as part of a window in the company's old building in Hamburg Downtown on 20 March 2007.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 April 2012

Flag#2 until 1995: It is a red over white over red triband. A black diamond is in the centre of the flag exceeding the white stripe. In the diamond are white capitals "G"(top and bottom),"H"(left) and "B"(right). Source: photo sent by Reiner Schliesske GHB, head of a department, on 2 April 2012
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 April 2012

Flag#3 (1995-2007):
It is a red over white over red triband. A black diamond is in the centre of the flag exceeding the white stripe. In the diamond are white capitals "G"(left) and"H"(right) ohne horizontal bar of the capital is touching the edge of the diamond.
Source: photo sent by Reiner Schliesske GHB, head of a department, on 2 April 2012
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 April 2012

Flag#4 since 2007(see above):
It is a logo flag. In a white field upon a blue wave is a red inscription "GHB". Beneath the wave is a blue inscription "PERSONALDIENSTLEISTER" (1st line, bold) "FÜR DEN HAFEN" (2nd line).
Source: I spotted this flag on top of the roof of the company's old building in Hamburg Downtown on 20 March 2007.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 April 2012

Karl Geuther

Here is the website of Karl Geuther & Co., - houseflag: white with red flydiagonal strip of c. 1/3 flagheight; in center blue capitals KG outlined white.
Dov Gutterman, 2 Nov 2003

Homepage (English version available): This versatile firm (shipping, stevedoring, freight forwarding, mail-order business, travel and tourism, ferry bookings), founded in 1958, shows a tiny house flag on the company website. The red stripe behind the blue initials is not a straight stripe (diagonal) I?m afraid, but rather a bowed stripe getting slightly thinner towards the top.  Also the fimbriated blue initials are linked together in such a way that an arrow is seen to point backwards from "G" to "K".
See image from German eBay offer no. 290064096504 (end 25 Dec 2006), table flag put up by ?shipflag?, dimensions given: approx. 15 [cm] x 24 [cm].
Jan Mertens, 16 Feb 2010

Otto Giese

Otto Giese
The company was located in Bremen. It is a white flag divided by a black centred cross. In its centre is a white disc fimbriated black and containing a red capital ?G?.
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957; p.F10.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 11 Apr 2009

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