Beluga Shipping was a German heavy-lift shipping company in the

Hanseatic city The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

. It was a world market leader in heavy-lift shipping and also highly innovative in related fields. As such, it was the first to equip ships of its fleet with

SkySails SkySails Group GmbH is a Hamburg-based company that sells kite rigs to propel cargo ships, large yachts and fishing vessels by wind energy as well as Airborne wind energy, airborne wind energy systems for electricity production from High-altitu ...

that can reduce fuel consumption by up to 5%, and was the first company to send a heavy-lift ship from Europe to Asia along the Northern Sea Route through the Arctic Ocean rather than through the Suez Canal. The company was declared insolvent in March 2011, affecting 670 employees.

History

Beluga Shipping was founded in

in December 1995 by entrepreneur

Niels Stolberg Niels is a male given name, equivalent to Nicholas, which is common in Denmark, Belgium, Norway (formerly) and the Netherlands. The Norwegian and Swedish variant is Nils. The name is a developed short form of Nicholas or Greek Nikolaos, after Saint ...

, initially as a

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

operator. In 1998, the company acquired its first vessel, the multipurpose heavy-lift carrier MV ''Beluga Obsession''. In 1999, the company built its first new vessel, the MV ''Werder Bremen.'' Beluga Shipping grew significantly during the following years. By May 2010, 69 multipurpose heavy-lift carriers were in service for the company, with crane capacities reaching 1,400 tons in tandem usage (P-series). The fleet further increased to 70 units by end of 2010. The company offered trade lane management but concentrated on tramp shipping, meaning each transport was organized individually according to the requirements of the cargo and the port of loading and destination. Since 2001, Beluga Shipping expanded its global network. By March 2009, the company ran twelve branch offices on five continents:

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, The

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

;

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, United Kingdom;

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

, Norway;

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia;

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, India;

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China;

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan;

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

;

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia;

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, United States. On the so-called

Teerhof The Teerhof is a peninsula between the Weser, River Weser and the Kleine Weser and Werdersee, Kleine Weser, opposite the city centre of Bremen, Germany. It was first mentioned in 1624 as "Theerhof" when it was the northernmost part of an island. ...

close to the

Weser River The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Br ...

the new headquarters of the company was inaugurated in June 2009. Due to the global recession, from 2010 on Beluga Shipping relied increasingly on financial help by the US financial investment firm

Oaktree Capital Management Oaktree Capital Management, Inc. is an American global asset management firm specializing in alternative investment strategies. As of September 30, 2024, the company managed $205 billion for its clientele. The firm was co-founded in 1995 by a ...

. Since 28 February 2011 developments indicated that

, shareholder with 49.5%, wanted to take over the Beluga-Group. The German

Bundeskartellamt The Federal Cartel Office (, ; BKartA) is Germany's national competition regulatory agency. First established in 1958, BKartA comes under the authority of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The agency is headquartered ...

confirmed this. On 3 March 2011, Niels Stolberg's retirement as CEO was announced and Oaktree appointee Roger Lliffe followed on his chair. With Stolberg, a few other leading managers were replaced. Soon after Oaktree's takeover, the company filed for bankruptcy. Oaktree subsequently founded a new heavy-lift shipping company with part of the Beluga Fleet, the Hamburg-based

Hansa Heavy Lift Hansa may refer to: Places *Hansa (shopping centre), in Turku, Finland *Hansa-Park, a German attraction park * 480 Hansa, a main-belt asteroid, a minor planet orbiting the Sun Transportation Ships * ''Hansa'', a schooner, the research ship of th ...

Business segments

Core competence of Beluga Shipping was the sea transport of project and heavy-lift cargo. The group was judicially divided into three companies. Beluga Shipping GmbH formed a holding company and was responsible for the strategic planning, finance, marketing, human resources etc. Beluga Chartering GmbH provided for the affreightment of the Beluga fleet with cargo. The Beluga Fleet Management GmbH & Co. KG was responsible for the seagoing personnel, the nautical and technical management of the vessels as well as the newbuilding of vessels.

Research & Innovation

As one of few companies in this sector, Beluga Shipping ran its own

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

and

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

department. Furthermore, Beluga Shipping was initiator of the

public private partnership In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichke ...

project Maritime Campus Elsfleth of which the Maritime Research Centre Elsfleth formed a part. The Maritime Campus Elsfleth aimed for the promotion of

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and

in the

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

sector. Beluga Shipping operated the world's first newly built vessel co-powered by wind using a

towing kite Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. ...

system. The goal of MV was to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. It was first tested on the ship ''Beluga SkySails'', launched December 15, 2007 in Hamburg, which was equipped with a sail that could reduce fuel consumption by 5.5% on parts of the route. Further, a ship from the Beluga Group was the first to traverse the icy Northern Sea Route through the Arctic Ocean in the summer of 2009. The passage is 1/3 shorter compared to traversing through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. The company was recognised by Hermann Simon as a role model for other small to medium-sized business in his book Hidden Champions.

Criminal Investigation

In 2012, the public prosecutor in Bremen found that the ''Beluga Eternity'' (a ship from the Beluga E-Series) had transported rockets and 16 Russian tanks in July 2009 from the Ukrainian port of Oktyabrsk to

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, while the latter was a military dictatorship and subject to an arms embargo of the EU. Similarly, the ''Beluga Endurance'' was found to have transported tanks and munition from Oktyabrsk to Mombasa for further transportation to the newly created state of South Sudan. However, in both cases the ship was leased at that time and knowledge of the operation on part of Beluga Shipping could not be proven. Niels Stolberg was cleared of these charges. The Bremen public prosecutor referred the case of the Myanmar Shipment to the Federal Public Prosecutor in Karlsruhe, as it suspected involvement by personnel of Germany's

Bundesnachrichtendienst The Federal Intelligence Service (, ; BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Federal Chancellery of Germany, Chancellor's Office. The Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service, BND headquarters is ...

in the case. However, the Federal Public Prosecutor saw no grounds for hearing the case and referred it back to the Bremen public prosecutor. In February 2013, the Bremen public prosecutor opened a new process against Niels Stolberg and a Dutch shipping company for having engaged in credit fraud in the amount of 93 million Euro. The companies are accused of having declared much higher production costs of ships to their banks and credit-granting institutions, thus raising the latter's share from 70% to 100%. If proven guilty, Stolberg could be imprisoned for up to three years. Beluga Shipping is also accused of having manipulated accounts to improve the company's financial balance between 2006 and 2010. In 2009, the company claimed a transaction volume of 415 million Euro. This was partially achieved by claiming possession of much more power fuel than the entire shipping fleet could comprise.

Social Responsibility

The educational concept of Beluga Shipping was unique in the maritime business. On six

training vessel A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...

s and additional units of the Beluga fleet, the Sea Academy of Beluga Shipping offered up to 160 cadets a year of training. The

s were equipped with an additional deck including the accommodation for the

cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

s, a class room and a maritime library. In addition, Beluga Shipping financed several

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

ships at the University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg/Ostfriesland/Wilhelmshaven and the University of Applied Sciences Bremen. The international study course Shipping & Chartering (ISSC) was developed in cooperation with Beluga Shipping and the University of Applied Sciences Bremen.

Social responsibility Social responsibility is an ethical concept in which a person works and cooperates with other people and organizations for the benefit of the community. An organization can demonstrate social responsibility in several ways, for instance, by do ...

was a substantial part of the corporate philosophy. In response to the misery and destruction caused by the tsunami catastrophe in 2004, Beluga Shipping built up the " Beluga School for Life", a village in Thailand for orphans and other juvenile victims. The aims of the project were to provide shelter for the children in family-like accommodations and to provide education intended to break the circle of poverty.Social Responsibility of Beluga Shipping

Competitors in Germany

* Schifffahrtskontor Altes Land GmbH & Co. KG * Rickmers Reederei GmbH & Cie. kg * BBC Chartering & Logistic GmbH & Co. KG * Harren & Partner Ship Management GmbH & Co. KG

References

External links

{{Commons category, Beluga Group, Beluga Shipping
Beluga Group

Beluga School for Life

Sea Academy
Shipping companies of Germany Transport in Bremen (state)