DEBEG-Hall (nowadays Tourist Board)
The leading local shipping company was undoubtedly the North German Lloyd (1857), which acted as the main user of the Neuer Hafen basin (constructed from 1947 to 1852), mainly for its transatlantic services. The Lloyd line influenced local economy and also culture in Bremerhaven in many ways – numerous facilities and buildings served to meet their demands.
One of the few service buildings still preserved today is the former provisions store. It was built at the southern edge of Neuer Hafen in brickwork. Later, the building was plastered over. When the Lloyd Company moved transatlantic operations from the Neuer Hafen basin to the Kaiserhäfen ports during the 1870s, the provision store also had to find a new user. This turned out to be the German counterpart of the British Marconi wireless company, the DEBEG (Deutsche Betriebsgesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie mbH, Berlin), founded in 1911. This firm moved into the building in 1922 and used it until 1970.
Meanwhile, satellite communication has created a completely new way of maritime communication and has made DEBEG obsolete, and the building is now an important site of German maritime history. Its former Bremerhaven office was refurbished in 2003; an entrance building made of glass was added. The plastering was removed, the original brickwork thus being made visible again. Nowadays the building is used as a tourist information office.
The name Lloyd
Edward Lloyd was a London coffee house owner at the end of the 17th century. Insurance companies, shipping companies, etc., have been given the name LLOYD. As England was the leading sea nation, and the coffee-house was the place of transport for the finer men, the name was also used outside Great Britain. Even at that time the term LLOYD stood for seriousness worldwide and still today insurance companies, trading companies and shipping companies benefit from this name.