House Flags of German Shipping Companies (t)

Last modified: 2011-08-20 by german editorial team
Keywords: transport & service | transrussia express |
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• TAGU Tiefbau
• Tanker Compagnie
• Tankfracht
• Tank Partner
• Tankrode
• TGB (Transport Genossenschaft Berlin)
• Heinrich Thode
• Johs. Thode, formerly BTA
• Thoering & Co
• Heinrich Thordsen
• Arnold Thyselius
• J. Tideman & Co.
• Carl Tiede
• Alfred C. Töpfer
• Transatlanta
• Transeste Schiffahrt
• Transport & Service
• TransRussia Express
• Trelleborg-Travemünde ferry
• Trulsen

• Teamlines
• Thien & Heyenga
• Carl Tiedemann

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

TAGU Tiefbau

TAGU Tiefbau GmbH “Unterweser” is a German waterway construction firm established at Oldenburg with local branches at Nordenham and Rostock. Website, German only: We learn that the firm, founded in 1927, was at first active in its own region (River Weser) concentrating at first on building dykes.  Since the takeover by Ludwig Freytag, another Oldenburg based construction firm, at the end of the nineteen sixties larger works have been realized such as dams and canals.
After expanding into Europe new activities include maritime cabling, offshore services, etc. with an eye to ecologically sound practices.  To get an idea of what this all means, have a look here (first of  three pages): Obviously this calls for highly specialized equipment (even up for rent), pontoons for instance: the site dutifully mentions that these all fly the German flag but there is a small supply ship as well.
Glimpses of the house flag (supply ship and temporary quay, respectively).
See the homepage headings for detail: blue with the company logo in yellow i.e. underlined and stylized, italic initials “TAGU”.  The name is placed in the centre of the flag rather than near the base as found on the squares seen throughout the site.
Jan Mertens, 23 Jun 2009

Tanker Compagnie

Tanker Compagnie GmbH
The company was located in Neuss. It is a red over white over green horizontal tricolour (the colours of Northrhine-Westphalia, with black capitals “TC” in the middle of the white stripe.
Source:  “Deutsche Reedereien und ihre Erkennungszeichen”; 2nd ed.; Hamburg; 1956; p.40
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 31 Mar 2009

Tankfracht

Here is what I have found on Tankfracht, starting with this photo (‘Excalibur’): click the camera next to ‘2006’ (bottom of page) which leads to the photo proper.
Known as ‘Tankfracht Werner Kortmann GmbH’ („tankfreight“), this Hamburg based firm shows its “full name” logo here.
Besides this modest web presence, we find the Dutch office ‘Oeltrans Tankfracht BV’ at Papendrecht.

A note on the company founder (in Dutch) is here (dated 31 Aug. 2004): saying that Mr Werner Kortmann, almost 66, has died suddenly.  He was no longer active and had a good reputation among tanker bargemen, private and otherwise.

Now the lowercase ‘t’ logo is the last but one on this Vlootschouw page dedicated to ‘Commander’: Rather purple than blue, the logo bears a yellow parallelogram on which is placed a purple stylized lowercase initial ‘t’.  On the other hand the house flag on the photo is rather blue than purple.
Jan Mertens, 12 Sep 2006

Tank Partner

‘Tank Partner Chartering Company Ltd’ or TPA for short, founded in 1989 – is established at Kaltenkirchen and presents itself as “Europe’s first and only international private shippers' tanker company “. Company website: “Partikulier” meaning a shipper who owns his barge: “TPA Tankpartner are focused on mineral oil transportation on the Rhine including its tributaries, and the canals of Western and Northern Germany. All the large mineral oil firms and many mineral oil traders are clients of ours.”
The text goes on describing the fleet (from 1000 to 4500 metric tonnes, these last in push combinations) and acknowledges the trend towards double-hulled vessels, one ship being active and more being built or planned. The shares are split up between private shippers (60%) and the management (40%).

The TPA logo (but it is a house flag!) is linked to this webpage. It is quarterly divided white above green (hoist) and red above white (fly) and bears the words ‘Tank’ and ‘Partner’ in black on the respective white fields. It can be seen – but not very clearly – on the barge ‘Galaxy’, see clickable photo on this page.
Jan Mertens, 11 Mar 2006

Tankrode

Obliged to demerger in the nineteen fifties, the Dutch shipping company Van Ommeren – which had been active, under different names, in Germany since 1908 – founded ‘Tankrode Schiffahrts GmbH’ later named ‘Van Ommeren Tankrode GmbH’ both established at Hamburg.  Ultimately Van Ommeren’s merger with Pakhoed would lead to Vopak – strengthened by the takeover of Elbe – becoming the fleet’s operator.
The suffix “rode” found in the company name and in a number of ships’ names refers to a feature of the North German landscape, a glade.
The ‘Binnenvaart’ page dedicated to tanker ‘Walsrode’ shows the house flag as a drawing and – difficult to recognize -  on a colour photo:
As Transtank’s case, the Van Ommeren house flag had its stripes recoloured: blue-white-blue-white-blue; a white diamond, placed slightly towards the hoist, contained the well-known “VO” logo in red.
Jan Mertens, 23 Mar 2009

TGB (Transport Genossenschaft Berlin)

Transport Genossenschaft Berlin (T.G.B.)
T.G.B. was overtaken by WTG in 1990 after German reunion. I believe, B.T.G. was a shadow company of DTG, for being located in West-Berlin where the administrative control was practiced by allied four powers, Western German companies were not allowed to run branches there. After Germany regained full sovereignty the company was dissolved and became part of DTG.
The flag was very similar to that one of DTG, but the anchor also had a rope and the initials of the company upon the flag were dotted.
I spotted an image of this flag on 10 June 2007 on a ship in Billwerder Bucht in Hamburg.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 3 Mar 2009

Heinrich Thode

The company was located in Steenfeld/Hanerau. It is a blue over red horizontal bicolour, superimposed by a white lozenge touching the edges. In the lozenge is a red capital "H" superimposing a black capital "T" of double height.
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957; p.F28
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 14 Apr 2009

Johs. Thode, formerly BTA

Johs. Thode, former BTA
Johs. Thode was established as Becker, Thode und Ascher (BTA) in 1890 as a ship broker company. But only a few years later the company ran its own ships, first only for North Sea and Baltic Sea. In the 60ies of the 20th century Johs. Thode became a pioneer in building cells in order to freight shuttle services in the Baltic Sea. In the 70ies he again began to build own ships. In 1979 Kurt Behrens took over the company, being a partner of Mr. Becker jr. before. Since 1988 the company is led by his son Dieter Behrens, who is the only companion.
Description of flag: It is a blue flag with a white diamond in its centre. Within the diamond are red capitals “BTA”. The “T” has double height.
Source: Information provided by /Klaus-Peter Bühne/ per email on 24 February 2009
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 27 Feb 2009

Thoering & Co

Thoering & Co. (connected with Stern-Linie)
The company was located in Lübeck and connected with Stern-Linie. It is a green flag, having a white diamond with a black capital "T"� in the centre.
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg; 1957; p. F20.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 31 Mar 2009

flag #2
The variant has a yellow diamond with white fimbriation.
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957; p.F28 Klaus-Michael Schneider, 13 Apr 2009

Thoering - yellow diamond image sent by Neale Rosanoski, 14 Nov 2009

Thoering & Co. GmbH. Klaus-Michael's scanner has led him astray a bit for this one as the diamond is not white but yellow with a white edging and the black "T" is on the yellow - see image, which is taken from US Navy 1961 where the diamond shape is more flattened, a lozenge, than Klaus Michael's "Esso" source though this should be a little smaller as it is less close to top and bottom [not an important point I feel – just an explanation of the small difference in the images]. Esso's colours do confirm the yellow portion though as do their 1958 edition and the same source format Flaggen& Schornsteine of 1957.
Neale Rosanoski, 14 Nov 2009

Heinrich Thordsen

Heinrich Thordsen K.G., Husum - per saltire blue and white; in center white disk, red intertwined "HT". (the saltire is a bit off; dunno whether that's intentional)
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

Arnold Thyselius

The company was located in Bremen and existed at least until 1957. It had been dissolved long time ago. As the company never had been a member of Bremer Rhederverein, the association of Bremen ship ownwers, there was no further information available. The flag was green fimbriated red. In its centre was a white disc cotized red and white. Within the disc was a red capital "T" superimposing an "A" of the same colour.
Source: "Deutsche Reedereien und ihre Erkennungszeichen"; 2nd ed.; Hamburg; 1956; p.40 Klaus-Michael Schneider, 21 May 2009

J. Tideman & Co.

Here's another simple white saltire on red. With a difference, it seems: this time the saltire appears to be broader. Another difference is the readability of the caption: this one isn't exactly entirely clear, but the OCR-tracer in my brain was able to come up with an approximation: J. Tiefemant & Co.
Jorge Candeias, 22 Dec 2004

See the on-line 1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels (Sailing Vessels section) - aka "Rhederei von J. Tideman & Co., Bremen" (No. 2085).
And No. 2086 looks familiar, doesn'it?
Jan Mertens, 23 Dec 2004

Carl Tiede

The flag is a broad spanish fess of blue and white with a yellow 8-pointed star in the center, that includes a wide blue border and something red within the border. I think this red thing is a T, shifted to the bottm, but it seems to me that there's something else above the T. I can't be sure. Anyway, it's quite an attractive design.
The caption seems to read "Carl Tinde", but there's also some margin for correction here.
Jorge Candeias, 14 Dec 2004

It's "Carl Tiede" - shares of this company can be seen here and here. Click to enlarge, the ships on these shares fly house flags and name pennants; what's more, a larger flag picture is used in filigrane. According to these pages, the company was established in Wismar and active 1899-1909.
Jan Mertens, 15 Dec 2004

Alfred C. Töpfer

Alfred C. Töpfer K.G. Schiffahrt G.m.b.H., Hamburg - white flag, Israeli-flag-style green stripes, green "T".
Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995 [lgr95]
Jarig Bakker, 11 Sep 2005

Toepfer Transport GmbH
The company was established in 1974 by Heinrich A. Toepfer and was an offspring of A.C. Toepfer International. The company today is located at Alstertor in Hamburg.
It is a green flag divided by a narrow white saltire. In its centre is a white disc containing a green serifed capital "T".
Source: I spotted this flag on top of the company building on 17 April 2010
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 18 May 2010

Toepfer Transport GmbH variant
image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 May 2010
The white flag is divided by two pairs of horizontal green stripes, the inner stripes are smaller. In the centre is a green capital "T".
Source: Klaus-Peter Bühne's webpage
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 May 2010

Transatlanta

"Transatlanta" Schiffahrts-Ges.mbH
The company was located in Hamburg. The MS TRANSATLANTA was the only ship and corresponding ship owner was Fisser & Doornum (according to p.18 of source). It is a green flag with a white lozenge, containing a red capital “T” in the centre.
Source: Deutsche Reedereien und ihre Erkennungszeichen”; 2nd ed.; Hamburg; 1956; p.40.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Apr 2009

The white diamond should be bigger according to the quoted source, nearly touching the flag edges and is also shown by the 1957 and 1958 same format issues whereas Brown 1958 and US Navy 1961 do have the diamond extending to the flag edges. The company vessels were operated by Fisser & van Doornum and the livery certainly seems to be based on that of the latter. They did have a second ship "St. Michel" shown by Lloyds and they may have well been a subsidiary of Fisser. The source however connects them as "K.R." or Korrespondent-Reeder", not as the latter being the ship owner. They look to have existed from 1953 when "Transatlanta" was built but gone by at least 1963 from Lloyds.
Neale Rosanoski, 8 Jul 2010

Transeste Schiffahrt

Transeste Schiffahrt, G.m.b.H., Hamburg - flag white over blue; in the center the firm's arms. (could the apparatus be a camel - to lift a vessel from one waterway to another?)
Image after Brown's Flags and Funnels Shipping Companies of the World, compiled by J.L. Loughran, Glasgow, 1995 [lgr95]
Jarig Bakker, 15 Sep 2005

Transport & Service

Transport & Service GmbH & Co. - White with two narrow horizontal stripes at the bottom in blue and orange. The logo is centered on the white and consists of the letters 'T' and 'S' united by a wavy line. I am not sure that the logo is like I depicted it. It was in the original image, but the flag there was artistically rendered, and it could have caused distortions in the logo.
Jorge Candeias, 26 Feb 1999

TransRussia Express

Horizontal stripes in dark blue, white, red and black. A mixture of the Russian colours with those of Poseidon, the mother company.
Jorge Candeias, 16 Mar 1999

Trelleborg-Travemünde ferry

Ferry Trelleborg-Travemünde. White, two slanting rectangles of yellow and blue, separated by a narrow white stripe.
Jarig Bakker, 7 August 2005

TT Line. This is a German company, TT-Line GmbH & Co. based in Hamburg.
Neale Rosanoski, 21 Sep 2006

TT-Linie, model 1986
The company was located in Hamburg. It was a white flag with two thin horizontal blue stripes, not touching the edges. A white lozenge fimbriated red was superimposing both stripes. In the lozenge were two blue, Italic capitals “TT”.
Source: Arnold KLUDAS: Die Geschichte der deutschen Passagierschiffahrt (5 Bde.) Hamburg 1986; Reprint Laibach Slovenia-Buch Nr. 03617-8 Flagchart p.224
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Apr 2009

Trulsen

Dov Gutterman reported the link of Cuxhavener Schiffahrtskontor Trulsen GmbH - flag: blue with on top a horizontal white stripe of c. 1/5 flagheight, at bottom a white stripe of c. 1/10 flagheight; in blue a white diamond with blue capitals CSK above two blue wavy stripes.
Santiago Dotor, 6 Nov 2003