Oldendorff Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 200
Northbound cargo,
be it to Europe or to
North America, would
in the main consist
of products such as
cocoa or coffee.
would be hung with jute or similar
material pervious to air. Coffee
requires ventilation in transit and
accordingly stowage must provide
for longitudinal and athwartships
ventilation ditches, alternatively
vertical trunks of 30 x 30cm all
the way to the top tier of bags.
Bagged potatoes and onions were
likewise difficult to carry. They have
retained their natural properties
to the present, but ocean carriage
is much simplified by refrigerated
containers with automatic
temperature control.
On a West Indies round voyage in
charter to Dutch KNSM Koninklijke
Nederlandsche Stoomboot
Maatschappij, general cargo vessels
such as the LUDOLF OLDENDORFF
and DORA OLDENDORFF would make
up to 25 port calls, sometimes in and
out within hours having discharged
a few packages, but also spending
several days in port handling cargo.
Northbound cargo, be it to Europe
or to North America, would in the
main consist of products such as
cocoa or coffee requiring to be
carried carefully as exemplified
by the case of coffee. This delicate
commodity is easily contaminated
by odours and must never be
stowed together with other cargoes
giving off odours of their own.
Excessive heat also affects coffee
meaning that it has to be kept away
from calescent cargoes. Moisture
and even humidity cause coffee
beans to mould. Cargo spaces had
to be perfectly clean and dry and
would be protected against sweat
water by dunnage mats laid out
crosswise. The sides of the holds
196
Egon Oldendorff did not neglect
traditional tramping grounds such
as the North and Baltic Seas and
the Mediterranean. Shippers in the
timber, coal, minerals and grain
trades knew the Lübeck-based
shipowner and his vessels. He
ordered a 2,015 tdw specialised
timber carrier from Schiffbau
Gesellschaft Unterweser in 1952,
the IMME OLDENDORFF. The
same builders delivered the HILLE
OLDENDORFF in 1956, similar in
appearance but having 3,345 tdw,
and finally completed the trio with
the 3,362 tdw ANNA OLDENDORFF.
The geared motorships had their
engines and superstructures aft
and could take considerable deck
loads, an important feature in the
timber trade.
The Oldendorff fleet kept increasing
by one, two or three newbuildings
per annum, gradually increasing
in size, but older steamers would
also be purchased, the last thereof
from Hamburg-based coal traders
and shipowners, Sauber & Co, built
in 1951 in Lübeck as the HERMANN
SAUBER and renamed the ILSABE
OLDENDORFF. All further secondhand ships purchased were dieselpropelled units.
