Hamburg: On 1 October 1881, DNV stationed its first permanent surveyor in Hamburg. Today, 125 years later, DNV enjoys the recognition, acceptance and respect in Germany captain Peter Bronn paved the way for.

DNV’s organisation in Gemany today comprises six offices with some 140 employees working in martime and other business areas. Also, Hamburg is the hub for DNV’s extensive maritime activities in UK and number of other North European countries.

DNV’s first surveyor in Hamburg, Peter Bronn, was an experienced Norwegian sailing vessel captain.
When he came to Hamburg, DNV was a seventeen year old company with some 30 employees. Prior to Hamburg, DNV had surveyors in only two countries outside of Norway, England and Belgium. The Antwerp distict extended from Boulogne to Hamburg, considered far too much for one surveyor.

Hamburg in 1881
Hamburg was a boomtown with almost 400,000 inhabitants. Captain Bronn’s first office was in the the Speicherstadt, the brand new and the world’s largest warehouses, built to handle the goods that were imported from all parts of the world and distributed all over Europe.

Five thousand ocean-going vessels were coming to the port each year. The streets and the harbour were packed with people from Germany and other parts of Central and Eastern Europe on their way to America.

Hamburg would remain captain Bronn’s domicil for almost 20 years. He died in April 1901 and was remembered in DNV’s annual report that year:
“ …. he had understood how to get the full recognition, acceptance and respect for Veritas in the important maritime centre Hamburg, where he had worked since the Hamburg station was established almost twenty years ago, and he has thus been fundamental for the development of our activity in the district.”

DNV has grown from a seventeen years old company with some 30 employees in 1881 to a world-wide organisation with more than 6,100 employees. DNV’s organisation comprises 300 offices in almost 100 countries. DNV is one of the world’s four largest classification societies.

For more information or to make an appointment for an interview with DNV expertise during the SMM 2007, please call Per Wiggo Richardsen, information manager, +47 90 77 78 29.

For more information on DNV’s history, please call Knut A. Andersen, senior information officer, + 47 67 57 85 26.

Date: 2006-09-28