Cyprus Best Companies

Reederei "NORD" Klaus E. Oldendorff is a family-owned company, established in 1964 by Mr. Klaus E. Oldendorff. The company started trading on 12th December 1964, when it took delivery in Kiel of a singledeck 1,417 tons deadweight vessel called "BOCKHOLM". The vessel's name was changed to "NORDHOLM" and she sailed off to the White Sea to load a cargo of timber. The following day, 13th December, the company opened its first office in Hamburg, where Mr. Oldendorff initially worked as the sole shore-side employee. Five months later, the company bought its second ship, the "NORDMARK", this time a tweendecker of 5,160 deadweight tons. Over the next five years, further second hand purchases took place and the fleet began to grow.

Then in 1969 and 1970, the company took delivery of its first newbuildings "NORDWELLE", "NORDWOGE", "NORDSTRAND" and "NORDKAP". These were four ships out of a series of ten, ordered by members of the Hamburg Trampship Owners Cooperation. These ships, the so-called Trampko-type, were some of the first semi-containervessels with a deadweight of 7,435 tons and a container carrying capacity of 228 teu. They were delivered just as the freight markets plunged into a deep crisis. The company had to lay up all its second hand vessels, but the newbuildings were able to continue to trade and with the upswing in containerisation, did very well. When the crisis in the freight markets abated and ship sale prices improved, the company started selling some of its older units. From that time on, the company has only invested in newbuildings. Building in West Germany had become too expensive and the company has since built in Japan, Singapore, China, East Germany, Poland and Korea.