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BRBA (German Shipping Company)

Bugsier-, Reederei- und Bergungs-Aktiengesellschaf

image by Jorge Candeias, 2 Feb 1999

See also:

Bugsier-, Reederei- und Bergungs-Aktiengesellschaft

Quartered per saltire, top triangle red, bottom blue, hoist and fly white. On each triangle, one of the companies initials (BRBA), in white on the top and bottom triangles and black on the white ones.
Santiago Dotor, 10 May 2005

Bugsier-Reederei-und Bergungs A.G. began 1866 as Vereinigte Bugsier & Frachtschiffahrt Ges. using a similar flag but with letters "VBFG" replacing the "BRBA" being white on the red quarters and black on the white quarters. The name changed in 1919. Whether the letters on the white are blue or black is very confusing. The company website, together with non German sources, show them as black. Whilst normally I would expect the company portrayal to be correct, the flag letters in the Josef Nüsse collection are definitely blue and this is supported by all other German sources.
Neale Rosanoski, 3 Jan 2003

Vereinigte Bugsier & Frachtschiffahrt Ges.

[Bugsier-, Reederei- und Bergungs-Aktiengesellschaft variant]

image by Jorge Candeias, 17 Jan 2005

German sources, including that on the Josef Nüsse site, show the black letters as blue but the company itself on its website shows black like the non German sources. They were formed in 1886 as Vereinigte Bugsier & Frachtschiffahrt Ges. with a similar flag but with the letters "VBFG" in place of the "BRBA". The name was changed to Bugsier-Reederei-und Bergungs A.G. in 1919 and then in 1988 to the current Bugsier Reederei und Bergungs GmbH which operates only a tug company.
Neale Rosanoski, 13 Oct 2004

It's No. 465 in the on-line 1912 Lloyds Flags & Funnels, as 'Vereinigte Bugsir- & Frachtschiffahrt-Gesellschaft, Hamburg' i.e. the United Towage and Goods Shipping Company. Some information on this company can be found here (in German):
The essence (under the 'Lloyd Sydney' heading): the firm was founded on 6 January 1866 by a group of Hamburg shipping operators and renamed several times before becoming, on 1 May 1919, the "Bugsier-, Reederei- und Bergungs AG which was to become famous world-wide. For many years the towage firm was also active in maritime transport.
Note: 'Bugsir' is old spelling for 'Bugsier'.
Jan Mertens, 26 Dec 2004