Gedanken zu Frank Broezes "Albert Ballin, the Hamburg-America Line and Hamburg"

Abstract

In his article on Albert Ballin appearing in the "Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv" No. 15, 1992, pp. 135-158, Frank Broeze advocates two theses: (1) that contrary to popular opinion Albert Ballin used ruthless tactics to pursue his policy of expansion and (2) that he practiced a dubious financial policy and frequently did not know exactly what he wanted. Broeze bases his argumentation primarily on the observations of Johannes Merck and Max von Schinckel who both regarded Ballin from a critical distance. The author of the present article focuses chiefly on Broeze's accusations concerning the personal and business integrity of Albert Ballin and arrives at conclusions quite different from Broeze's: 1. In addition to the construction of the IMPERATOR class, Ball in also had internationally outstanding ships built for the South America routes (east and west coast) as well as for the East Asia service- a carefully targetted business policy, the success of which was hindered only by the First World War. Ballin's restraint in regard to austral traffic, which would have remained deficitary for Hapag because of the absolute predominance of the British, also points to a faculty for clever decision-making. 2. The low dividend payments of the Hapag in comparison to other shipping companies are not an indication of the negative effects of Ballin's business policies but of the reinvestment of a larger proportion of the profits. 3. The increase in the cost of the IMPERATOR's construction from the 25 million Marks first projected to a final total of 38 million Marks were not caused by Ballin's having habitually ordered ships in a "totally unbusiness-like" manner, but by the fact that the original plans were for a 30,000 ton vessel whereas the ship finally ordered weighed 51,000 tons. 4. There is no evidence to support Broeze's assertions that Ballin's behaviour was inconsiderate, violent, dictatorial, antagonistic and uncompromising . On the contrary, his main competitors in Bremen, England and among his pool partners have never expressed any such criticism. This is in itself a remarkable fact and speaks clearly for Ballin's integrity.