Chemical Tankers Division is part of the Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group of Companies. Click on the logo below for more information about the Group.
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Essberger Tankers is a leading operator of chemical tankers within Europe. The fleet consists of 26 highly sophisticated vessels capable of carrying a wide range of high grade chemicals, and the long term future of the company is underpinned by an ambitious newbuilding program. Essberger Tankers operates from two offices in Hamburg and Dordrecht, and covers the following main trade areas:
> Europe-Baltic > North Sea > Europe-Mediterranean
Essberger Tankers combines the stories of two proud companies with a long tradition and excellent reputation in the shipping of bulk chemicals.
John T Essberger, a German Naval Commander, founded his own ship owning company in Hamburg in 1924. Since that time, the company has been actively involved in many different aspects of shipping, including tankers, container ships and dry cargo vessels. Essberger was one of the pioneers of purpose built parcel tankers in the early seventies, and for more than 30 years a prime focus of the company has been the operation of high class stainless steel chemical coasters. The company has remained a family owned business throughout its long history, and the current joint Managing Directors are the grandsons of John T Essberger.
Meanwhile, a transport company originally founded by the Broere brothers in Holland in 1922, went through various transitions from road transport, through barging and into coastal shipping. In 1968 the Broere company was acquired by Tenneco, and from 1972 the primary activity of the company was shipments of chemicals in Europe on stainless tankers. In 1988, Broere Shipping was acquired by Pakhoed, who merged with Van Ommeren in 1999, at which time Broere Shipping was renamed as VOPAK Chemical Tankers.
The two companies joined forces in the VOPAK Essberger Chempool in 2001. Then, in 2004, the John T Essberger Group acquired VOPAK Chemical Tankers and renamed it Broere Shipping.
In 2008, following the adoption of standardised procedures within the Chartering and Operations departments of both offices, the brand name of the operating company was changed to Essberger Tankers. Broere Shipping BV was renamed John T Essberger BV in 2009.
Essberger Tankers is proud of its unique history, a history that has resulted in a state of the art fleet manned and operated by highly committed and experienced personnel, known and trusted by all shippers of bulk liquids in Europe.