Last modified: 2019-08-12 by klaus-michael schneider
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Washbay-Linie GmbH (Henry Stahl GmbH) - The company was located in Hamburg
and was established by merchant Henry Stahl(1896-1969). He began his carrer
by chartering Germany?s oldest merchant vessel, the PIONIER. In 1952 he
also chartered the Dutch ship LYDIA which made its first voyage to King's
Lynn, which was located at British Washbay, which became the new name of
the company since then. Stahl established a continuous line between Hamburg
and King's Lynn in 1953 and one year later the company was subscripted
into Hamburg's register of commerce. The line was continued together with
ARGO shipping company and ended in 1968. In 1966 one of the sons, Peter
Stahl, overtook the company, he began a 7-years partnership with Schulte
& Bruns and in 1968 the first ro-lo ship, the HENRY STAHL began its
service.
In 1986 another new built ro-lo ship, the ALSTER RAPID, was added to
the fleet, the suffix RAPID was added due to the model name of a sports
car of the company's main customer, SKODA Automobiles.
In 1992 Volkswagen became owner of SKODA and Washbay lost its most
important customer. The losses couldn't be compensated. Peter Stahl meanwhile
was aged 65 and resigned and the last two ships, the company went into
bankruptcy in 1994 and finally both ro-lo ships got lost by forced sale
in Rotterdam in 1995.
Source: Klaus-Peter Bühne; translated by Klaus-Michael Schneider.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2009
Description of flag#2: The letters are thicker and the 'L' has an additional
short backslash, the centre of the 'W' has half height.
Source: "Flaggen, Schornsteine, Reedereien- Flaggen und Schornsteine
der deutschen Reedereien und ihre Schiffe über 300 BRT"; Hamburg 1957;
p.F29
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2009
Description of flag#3, since 1968: The letters are even thicker than
in flag#2, a white embowed inscription 'ro-lo' was added above the 'W'
that way, that the whole ensemble looks like a ship with antenna.
Source: based on a photo of a table flag of Klaus-Peter Bühne.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 May 2009