History
Hapag-Lloyd AG was created on September 1st 1970 as a result of the merger of the shipping lines Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hamburg-America Line or Hapag), based in Hamburg, and Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), based in Bremen. At that time, these companies, founded in 1847 and 1857 respectively, had been active in ocean shipping for over a hundred years. Hapag-Lloyd celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1997. In the same year TUI Group (former Preussag) acquired a controlling stake in Hapag-Lloyd. In 2005 Hapag-Lloyd became one of the world's fifth-largest container shipping company, following the acquistion of CP Ships.
