If you want to see who shaped shipping, you don’t have to go much further than the Promenade at the Port of Hamburg. There lies the “Rickmer Rickmers”, a three-master from the 19th century. It hasn’t seen the oceans of the earth for a long time, but as a museum ship it attracts masses of visitors all year round. It was named after the Rickmers shipowning dynasty, which is still active in the shipping business in the fifth generation, but is going through difficult times. Bertram Rickmers died on Sunday night at the age of 71.
Rickmers was head of the “Asian Spirit Steamship Company”. The company’s management wrote on Monday in a message to the workforce that the well-known shipowner died “completely by surprise”. In business circles there was talk of a tragic accident. Rickmers is said to have fallen on a staircase in his villa, like that Picture reported on his wife’s 60th birthday. His mother Christa Rickmers died in a similar way: she suffered severe head injuries when she fell down a flight of stairs in 2003 at the age of 75.
Shipping shaped his life
Bertram Rickmers has been through turbulent years recently: in 2017 he had to file for bankruptcy with his “Rickmers Holding AG”, the global shipping crisis hit the company hard. In the end, there were 1.7 billion euros in debt on the books, it was one of the most spectacular bankruptcies in the industry. Together with his brother Erck, he founded a company in the 1980s that sold ship bonds. After the two brothers separated, Bertram Rickmers built his company into a major force on the global market: in the best of times, the fleet had 130 ships and over 2,000 people found work with him.
Rickmers was outraged that HSH Nordbank, as the main creditor, had surprisingly canceled an out-of-court restructuring plan during the crisis, and long court cases followed. Investigations into the bank’s role are still ongoing. On the other hand, injured investors continue to fight for compensation. The Zeaborn Group of the Bremen contractor Kurt Zech finally bought the company. A year later, Brother Erck Rickmers and his shipping group “ER Schifffahrt” went bankrupt, and Zech took over the business here as well. That was particularly ironic, since the brothers themselves had no longer wanted to work together.
Shipping had shaped the life of Bertram Rickmers: After graduating from high school, he went to sea himself. He studied economics and was hired by his uncle Claus Rickmers. At the Rickmers shipyard in Bremerhaven, he was responsible for selling ships, set up his own business and finally became a shipowner himself. After Rickmers Holding went bankrupt, he set up a new company, the “Asian Spirit Steamship Company”. Last year he handed over the business to his son Rickmer Clasen Rickmers. In addition to his wife and son Rickmer Clasen, Bertram Rickmers leaves behind two daughters and five grandchildren.