DAL Review

Deutsch Afrika-Linien is a medium-sized shipping company focused mainly on the African market. The company offers eight routes between Africa and ports in Europe, the Mediterranean Coast and in several islands on the Indian Ocean, such as the Canary Islands. DAL also offers a weekly service to North America and South America via ports in Europe.

Deutsch Group Services

Deutsch’s liner business is part of a bigger group known as the Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group of Companies. The group maintains separate crewing and human resources organizations in Hamburg, Germany and in Dordrecht, The Netherlands. The group’s crewing service in Germany is responsible for staffing all of the vessels owned and operated by Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group in Germany. Its crewing facility in Dordrecht is responsible for crewing all Dutch-registered vessels owned and operated by the John T. Essberger Group in The Netherlands.

Jointly-Owned and Operated Fleet

The Deutsch Afrika-Linien group currently maintains a large fleet of owned and chartered-in container ships, chemical tankers, bulk carriers and cement carriers. The group’s core liner services are handled entirely by Deutsch Afrika, which ships a range of container cargo as well as bulk and break-bulk cargo. The group’s chemical-tanker operations and its dry cargo tramp-shipping services are run by the John T. Essberger Group.

Ship Management Business

In addition to its liner business, DAL also has a ship management division that offers a range of management services to other shipping companies. Some of the services offered by the division include crewing and personnel management services, ship repair and dry-dock supervision, technical management services and a consulting service that offers help with the design and construction of new ships. The management group also offers a range of marine and non-marine insurance and claims handling services for its maritime customers.

North American Service

DAL offers a weekly service to North America from ports in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth in South Africa. Its North American route is served by seven medium sized container ships, each one capable of carrying between 4,000 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) containers to 4,600 TEU. The company currently serves more than 10 ports along the North American Atlantic seaboard, including Halifax, Montreal and Toronto in Canada, and Baltimore, Savannah and New Orleans in the US. Deutsch Afrika-Linien also offers a direct shipping route to Oakland, Seattle and Vancouver on the US Pacific Coast.