Red Star Linie G.m.b.H

The Fleets

When the Red Star Line was dissolved in 1934 the German shipowner Arnold M. Bernstein purchased the company and restyled it as Red Star Linie G.m.b.H, Hamburg and he operated an Antwerp - Southampton - New York service for a few years under the Red Star Line name. Arnold M. Bernstein was Jewish and when Adolf Hitler came in power it became difficult for Jewish people in Germany to own and manage a company. In January 1937 Arnold M. Bernstein was arrested, as were numerous other Jews at that time, under the Nazi Aryanization of businesses and was accused of infringements of the foreign exchange laws. He was sentenced to 2 ½ years imprisonment and fined $400.000.

Unable to pay this high amount of money the Red Star Linie and another shipping company owned by him were confiscated. They were placed under the management of a trustee appointed by the German Government who would continue to operate both companies until a buyer could be found.

The PENNLAND and WESTERNLAND were heavily mortgaged and were sold by the mortgagors to the Holland Amerika Lijn of Rotterdam in 1938-39. The other ships of the Red Star Linie were also sold or scrapped.

When the Germans occupied Denmark and Norway on 9th April, 1940 the Skagerak blockade was implemented. The Nordstjernan Company had seven ships inside Swedish ports and six outside. The route traffic was halted and the six ships outside Swedish ports were placed in traffic across the Pacific between Vladivostock and the USA. In 1940 Sweden managed to get the countries at war to allow limited traffic to and from Swedish ports. This safe-conduct traffic continued with few breaks until 1945.

During the forties the Lindholmens yard in Gothenburg was bought. In December 1948 the first ship in the newly created Far East route began to load in Bombay and set off on New Years Eve 1949. This route was operated jointly with Everett Orient Line and became to be known as the Everett Star Line.

In the early sixties Nordstjernan chartered reefer ships to manage the transportation of fruit from Argentina and the company started to built reefer ships for transportation of cold cargo, but was reluctant to do so due to substantial investments required, so as a solution the fruit company Frans A Sanden AB was bought in 1963 for the price of 14 million SEK, keeping the Sanden brothers in charge of running the company. With this company behind them Nordstjernan built several new reefer ships.

In 1966 Johnson Line ordered five container vessels at Wärtsilä shipyard in Åbo, Finland to serve the newly opened container line, to the west coast of North America in 1969 together with the ship in the Rio - series rebuild semi container vessels. Then they need more special vessels on North Pacific-trade. After a long discussion, Nordstjernan solved the problem, sailing together with other ship owners. It was the Danish Østasiatiske Kompagnie and the English Blue Star Line, which 1972 begin to sail together with nine vessels under the name Johnson Scan Star. Nordstjernan had five ships and the other two compnies had two ships each.

In 1969 the Lindholmen shipyard was sold to the Eriksberg shipyard owned by the Broström Concern. In 1975 Nordstjernan gained a majority in Rederi AB Fredrika and Stjärnbolagen and thereby also a majority in Rederi AB Svea (partner in the Silja Line) who had a fleet of 25 ships and 10 sightseeing boats in Stockholm.

Johnson Line and the Norwegian ships-owner Abraham Odfjell in Bergen, Norway created Odfjell Johnson Chemical Tankers (JO Tankers) in 1980 with nine new-bIn August 1939, Mr. Arnold M. Bernstein was released from prison and went to New York. He became an American Citizen and later started the American Banner Line.

Many thanks to Henk Jungerius and Ted Finch for their assistance in collecting this data. The following list was extracted from various sources. This is not an all inclusive list but should only be used as a guide.

Routes

• Antwerp – Havre-Southampton - New York
• Hamburg-Antwerp-New York

Ships