F. Laeisz

F. Laeisz (pronounce lyze; short FL), is an old established and today still active shipping company (present offices in Hamburg, Rostock, Bremerhaven and Grabow, Germany, as well as Japan and Philippines)

History of the shipping company

The firm was established by Ferdinand Laeisz on 24 March 1824 as a production company for tall hats. Expansion to overseas markets enabled him to purchase in 1839 the brig “Carl”, named after his son, who joined the firm as partner on 1 March 1852. 1857 the first new building was commissioned, a wooden barque named “Pudel” after Carl’s wife Sophie Laeisz. Sophie’s nickname followed her hairstyle.

All following own new buildings after 1861 were christened with names starting with a “P”. This is the reason why British seamen called the company “P-Line”. Carl Laeisz credo was “My ships can and must perform fast voyages.” and this stood for reliability and speed of his tall ships, consequently they became famous as “Flying P-Liner”.

1892 F. Laeisz purchased its first iron steamship (Hamburg, renamed Naxos) from the Hamburg-Südamerikanischen Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft (co-founded by Laeisz 1871) which was employed by Deutsche Levante Linie (DLL, co-founded by Laeisz 1889). By and by a market position developed through establishing further steamship lines (like 1847 co-founder Hapag, 1874 co-founder Deutsch-Australische Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft, 1886 co-founder Woermann-Linie, 1890 co-founder Deutsch-Ost-Afrika-Linie)