Oldendorff Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 253
NIEDERSACHSEN
1976-1983
size and capacities, shrank into
insignificance in this context. The
Bonn government decided to grant
shipbuilding subsidies of 15% to
domestic yards for the construction
of large tankers for German owners.
This encouraged several German
shipowners to place orders for large
tankers, including Hapag-Lloyd AG
(a result of the merger of HamburgAmerikanische Packetfahrt AG and
Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1970), John
T. Essberger, the VEBA and the
Gelsenberg concerns, and PoseidonReederei. In 1973 Egon Oldendorff
decided to have two turbine tankers
of 240,000 tdw each built which he
ordered from Howaldtswerke of
Kiel for a total price of about DM
250 million.
The countries forming the OPEC
cartel triggered the 1973 oil crisis, as
opposed to previous events which
had rather been transport crises.
The idea was to prop up prices by
curtailing crude oil production.
With oil prices high, other oilfields
outside the Middle East crisis area
became viable propositions, including
expensive offshore activities.
Great Britain and Norway emerged
as competitors of the Arabian
sheikhdoms. No supertankers were
required to carry crude oil from North
Sea oilfields, and as in the United
States, pipelines replaced seaborne
transportation, if only partly.
Tankers NIEDERSACHSEN (foreground) and
SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN at the builders’ yard in Kiel
249
