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Schulte firms (German Shipping Company)

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Introduction

Bernhard Schulte GmbH & Co KG – group of companies
Brief history:
1st generation:
Consul Johann Hermann Schulte(1847(?)-1920) and his friend Christoph Bruns established a ship broker company, named Schulte & Bruns, in Papenburg in 1883, the predecessor of current Schulte group.
Having different ideas about management the partners separated in 1893 in a friendly way. Bruns stayed in Papenburg, Schulte went to Emden. For the company S&B had had a good reputation, an agreement was made to keep the name for both companies but using different colours for the flags:
The company Schulte & Bruns in Papenburg, owner Christoph Bruns, had a yellow and blue flag since then.
The company Schulte & Bruns in Emden, owner J.H. Schulte, had a green and red flag since then.
The company in Emden had twelve ships in 1912, transporting timber across the North Sea and Baltic Sea. In 1914 the first steamship was acquired. In 1917 the company opened a dockyard in Emden.
2nd generation:
Consul Heinrich Schulte(1876-1937) and Johann Schulte(1877-1938).
Heinrich Schulte was mastering the troubles during inflation and economic crisis in 1923 successfully. In 1930 his company has 16 overseas ships and numerous inland ships.Branches in Rotterdam, Hamburg and Duisburg were established. The main business meanwhile was the transport of coal, iron and steel for the expanding mining companies. Since 1939 the company was under supervision of NS-government.
3rd generation:
Consul Bernhard Schulte(1907-1975) and Hans Heinrich Schulte (*1909)
The company acquired three wrecks from allied occupation forces in 1945. In 1949 the first own ship was bought. In 1950 the company had already 16 overseas ships and 100 inland ships. During the next years Schulte und Bruns Emden became one of the leading shipping- and shipbuilding companies of Germany.
In 1955 Consul Bernhard Schulte left the company, founding his own shipping company, named Bernhard Schulte GmbH.
The company expanded, pushed by Suez crisis, in 1956. In 1957 13 new built ships were bought.
4th generation:
Dr.Heinrich Udo Schulte (*1935) and Thomas Schulte (*1939)
By overtaking the company in 1963 Dr.Heinrich Schulte was managing 14 overseas ships. His younger brother Thomas, who joined the company in 1967, built up an “inhouse chartering department”.
In 1968 the first gas tanker was used and the company began to expand slowly but continuously. In 1971 the Schultes were owner of the bigger part of the fleet they managed.
Due to high taxes in Germany the company began to transfer parts of the fleet in 1972 abroad and the Hanseatic Shipping Co., located in Limassol (Cyprus), was established.
In 1976 the Atlantic Marine Ltd., located in Hamilton (Bahamas), was established.
In 1976 Ascan Lutteroth, brother in law of the Schultes, joined the company and became member of the top management in 1980.
In 1981 the company was shaken by a shipping crisis. At that time the company managed 30 own and more than 100 foreign ships.
In 1985 NAVIGO Shipmanagemant Ltd., located in Limassol (Cyprus), was established.
In 1987 Thomas Schulte left the company, establishing his own company, named Thomas Schulte GmbH & Co KG.
In 1988 Bernhard Schulte GmbH & Co KG established two new companies: the Dorchester Maritime Ltd., located in Douglas (Isle of Man), probably in order to manage the gas tankers, and the EURASIA Shipping & Management, located in Hong Kong, which won several awards. In 1989 Bernhard Schulte GmbH & Co KG is worldwide one of the leading shipping companies.
In 1996 the company bought the Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampfschiffs-Reederei (OPDR) from Haniel. In the same year 5 older tankers were bought and a new branch of conventional tanker shipping was established. Finally in 2004 branches of petrol- and bulk shipping were opened.
In 2008 the companies Hanseatic, Atlantic, NAVIGO, Dorchester and EURASIA were united under the umbrella company Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement.
Source: Klaus-Peter Bühne; translated by Klaus-Michael Schneider.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 Apr 2009

Schulte & Bruns

image by Jorge Candeias, 18 Mar 1999

Schulte & Bruns GmbH & Co. - Gold over blue bicolour with white lettering outlined in black 'S&B' over all.
Jorge Candeias, 18 Mar 1999

The current company, based Papenburg, would seem to be the second company of the name as according the Schulte family history the original was wound after getting into financial difficulties in 1977. This winding up probably occurred around 1980. The original company began at Papenburg but shifted to Emden in 1893 when founder Johann Hermann Schulte split from his partner. The original flag had green over red halves with white letters "S&B" but the change to the yellow and blue must have happened before the winding up as the flag is shown by "Flaggen der Binnenschiffahrt" of 1973. This domiciles the company at Papenburg whereas Lloyds shows Emden, Bremen and then Hamburg between the 1960s and 1980s so maybe there were two divisions of the company to explain the 2 flags with the Papenburg branch surviving to today as Schulte & Bruns GmbH & Co. K.G. Initially I thought the yellow and blue version may have been peculiar to vessels on inland waterways but Walter Michels in his "Unvergessene Dampfschiffahrt auf Rhein und Donau" shows the green & red so there would appear to be some other background to its use.
Neale Rosanoski, 9 Oct 2004

Schulte & Bruns variant

image by Eugene Ipavec, 11 Jun 2006

This is something of a mystery. Have a look at this photo, specifically the S&B initialled house flag: We see a horizontally divided flag, green above red, and large white initials ‘S&B’ over all. According to the Binnenvaart site, this one belongs to Schulte & Bruns (‘Emma’), where the above flag is shown, as a drawing.

Biedekarken agrees: click ‘Schornsteine’ (funnels), then select the first title, ‘Schornsteine mit schwarzer Grundfarbe’ (funnels with black background). S&B is the first on the last row but two.

So far so good, but FOTW-ws shows a yellow-above-blue house flag, and so does the company website, and that includes photos in colour.
As S&B – a venerable firm with an interesting history - has an inland navigation department it is not impossible that it has, or once had, a variant house flag. Unfortunately, the evidence is indirect: drawings on sites known for their knowledge of the subject, but no photos as far as I could see.
There once was a S&B shipyard, too, but then how to combine this with running an inland fleet?
Conclusion: no doubt whatsoever about the yellow & blue flag on FOTW-ws, but insufficient background for the green & red flag even if it was present at the Bergeshövede festivities.
Jan Mertens, 30 May 2006

Bernhard Schulte

image by Jarig Bakker, 6 Nov 2003

Dov Gutterman reported the link of Bernhard Schulte - Note that the photograph shows a larger disc. Flag: green with a red disk charged with a white capital S.
Santiago Dotor, 6 Nov 2003

Bernhard Schulte present flag

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 Mar 2009

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement; Hamburg (current flag)
The flag is blue with a red disc, containing a white capital “S”, in the centre.
Source: I spotted an image of this flag at the new home of the company in Berliner Tor Centre; Hamburg-St.Georg on 24 March 2009.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 Mar 2009

Thomas Schulte

image by Ivan Sache, 18 Mar 2004

The first shipping company owned by the family Schulte was Schulte & Bruns, founded in Papenburg in 1882. In 1955, the company was divided into the Reederei Bernhard Schulte, registered in Hamburg, and Schulte & Bruns, registered in Emden.
In 1988, the Berhnard Schulte company was divided between the two sons of Bernhard Schulte, Heinrich and Thomas. The Thomas Schulte company operates today 12 container vessels.
The house flag of the Thomas Schulte company is green with a red square diamond charged with TS in white.
Source: Company website.
Ivan Sache, 18 Mar 2004

Thomas Schulte banner

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 Apr 2009

Thomas Schulte GmbH & Co KG
The company is located in Hamburg and not member of Schulte group. It was established by the younger brother Thomas Schulte as an own company in 1987.
The ratio is approx 5:2. The red diamond is shifted to the top. The white capitals “T” and “S” are not connected.
Source: I spotted this flag at Alster Lake in Hamburg on 17 February 2009.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 Apr 2009