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Lehnkering (German Shipping Company)

Last modified: 2017-11-11 by german editorial team
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[Lehnkering new flag] image by Eugene Ipavec, 26 Aug 2006 See also:

Lehnkering new flag

For an overview of this German inland navigation firm’s history, see the company site.
Some highlights: founded by Carl Lehnkering at Duisburg, 1872; Lehkering & Cie. joint-stock company in 1907; majority of shares belong to Metallgesellschaft at Frankfurt starting 1923; Hamburg shipping companies Unterweser Reederei and Montan Shipping taken over in 1989; 1994, growing involvement of VTG logistics firm, Hamburg; name change to Lehnkering AG in 1997; VTG and Lehnkering merge in 1998, forming VTG-Lehkering AG.
However on 1 January 2004 there was a demerger, VTG remaining active in rail and mineral oil transport and Lehnkering keeping the other logistic activities one of which is inland shipping.  For this last remark, see this site.
Quote from the current Lehkering site, defining integrated logistics services:
“LEHNKERING is an expert for transporting, storing and transhipping products for customers and also combines its various services to form effective, cost-efficient logistics packages. We pool our know-how relating to means of transport, storage technologies and IT systems efficiently and economically to provide logistics chains, outsourcing concepts, consultancy services and innovative logistics solutions.”

A further quote concerning their inland shipping services, called Lehnkering Reederei GmbH:
“We offer industry-oriented logistics solutions for sectors involved with bulk cargo, such as energy utilities and the oil, iron, steel and chemical industries. Our fleet of 192 vessels transporting dry and liquid cargo is constantly deployed for our customers on all European inland waterways, serving the major business centres of Benelux, France and Germany, as well as Poland and the countries on the Danube. We also offer Rhine-sea and North European coastal services. The inland shipping division has its own technical department that ensures that our own fleet and the privately owned units we deploy remain state-of-the-art.”

No doubt you will have seen the VTG and (current) Lehnkering logos on the above pages, but before dealing with these – and the respective flags – in additional messages, the two-tone ‘L’ for Lehnkering has to be mentioned now.

Please check the following pages for white funnels and flags, bearing this emblem: here and here. ‘two-tone’ simply meaning that the logo (clearly an initial ‘L’) consists of a slanting light blue rectangle and a darker blue wave shape beneath, placed on a white background.
This flag was also presented on Heinrich Fischbach’s site, now gone.

The problem is that I do not know when the white house flag replaced the blue one (in use at least till 1978) although in a flippant mood I like to think that the company wanted to get rid of a house flag strongly resembling the ‘L’ for ‘learning to drive’!
Jan Mertens, 24 Aug 2006


Lehnkering old flag

[Lehnkering houseflag] image by Jarig Bakker, 22 Aug 2006

Lehnkering is another - very important - German inland navigation company.  Here is a flag once used by that firm - a large white initial 'L', serifed, on a blue field. See also this Binnenvaart page, showing flag & funnel (vessel 'Lehnkering 14'):
Featuring prominently in an advertisement I have, the flag is accompanied by the slogan (translated): "Transport problems? We push them aside." (a pun on push navigation, of course).  Back cover of bimonthly 'Duisburg' 4/78 (July-August).  Come to think of it, the 'Lehnkering 16' and its L-bearing funnel are shown on the front cover as well...

As far as I know, this was the original (i.e. the first) house flag.
Jan Mertens, 22 Aug 2006


Lehnkering logo flag

[Lehnkering logo flag] image by Eugene Ipavec, 26 Aug 2006

Some information about the current symbol of Lehnkering.  See this page for a white logo on a blue flag, as used, apparently, by the company’s Basel office (road transport). Said logo consists of two blue shapes, stylized lower case ‘l’ initials I suppose, placed in conjunction i.e. the one, on its head, hovering above the other as it were.

On the other hand, here is a blue logo on white, plus the company name in black, on a table flag here.
I do not really know whether this version is used on waterways.  No photo seen as yet, and no date of introduction known either.
It is even possible that various departments of this large firm use different colour combinations, which is why photos would come in handy.
Jan Mertens, 25 Aug 2006


"M" flag

[Lehnkering M flag] image by Antonio Martins-Tuvalkin, 1 Jul 2008

A life-size flag this time, offered on German eBay as item no. 330041538623 (end 31 Oct 2006), put up by â€?lz530â€?.  Dimensions given as 1 m x 1.50 m.
Jan Mertens, 28 Oct 2007