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Welcome to
Deutsche Afrika Linien / John T.Essberger Group

Deutsche Afrika Linien / John T. Essberger Group of Companies was founded by the former Imperial Navy Officer, Commander John Theodor Essberger, in 1924. Today the Group consists of John T. Essberger with its dry cargo and ship management divisions, E&S Tankers, a joint venture between Essberger and Stolt Tankers and Deutsche Afrika-Linien.

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Our Companies:

John T. Essberger

Founded in 1924 as Atlantic Tank Reederei the company has a long tradition in the transport of liquids.

Go to JTE-Website
E&S Tankers

A joint venture between Essberger and Stolt Tankers operating a combined fleet of 48 parcel tankers in Europe.

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Deutsche Afrika-Linien

After many years operating Liner Services, DAL is today, amongst other things, invested in the South Africa Container Depot Business.

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About the Group

Traditional values with modern thinking - loyalty, flexibility, reliability, foresight and readiness are our bywords.

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Careers On- and Off-Shore

We offer exiciting and challenging careers both afloat and ashore. See our career pages for more details.

Job Offers
Our Proud History

The history of the privately owned Deutsche Afrika-Linien/John T. Essberger Group dates back to the year 1924.

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Our in-house magazine:

For Public Relations and Corporate Communications enquiries
please contact our

Press Department

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October 2025

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July 2025

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December 2024

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December 2021

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December 2020

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December 2019

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December 2017

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July 2017

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April 2017

GROUP Services

  • HR Shore Germany

    • The Human Resources Shore department belongs to the Deutsche Afrika-Linien GmbH & Co. KG and is located in Hamburg. HR Shore is responsible for 220 employees, working in the administration of the Deutsche Afrika-Linien / John T. Essberger Group.We are always looking for highly motivated and well qualified employees.

  • More Info

    • Our company is only as good as our employees are! Therefore we are always looking for highly motivated and well qualified employees. We want to gain and retain people, who want to play an active part in our company, are willing to take the responsibility for challenging issues and who are able to change the bearing. We offer a supportive environment w here you can strike a new path and develop your personal and professional skills on a long term related basis.

      Our HR Team in Hamburg has a deep knowledge of the tasks it is responsible for combined with a long working experience. We are always looking for highly motivated and well qualified new colleagues.

Go to HR-Department
  • Crewing Germany

    • ECS – ESSBERGER CREWING SERVICES GmbH is based in Hamburg and is responsible for the Crewing of the vessels owned and managed by John T. Essberger & Deutsche Afrika-Linien. We offer qualified officers and engineers stable work conditions and good career prospects.

  • More Info

    • ECS – ESSBERGER CREWING SERVICES GmbH, is in a position to offer qualified officers and engineers stable work conditions and good career prospects. The senior staff presently serving on board have been with the company for many years. Within the next five years several of these senior officers are due to retire. This opens great opportunities for new applicants. Firstly they are in a position to be well trained by their senior crew, due to their vast experience on all kinds of chemical cargoes. Secondly the junior officers have excellent promotion opportunities, due to the clear commitment of ECS – ESSBERGER CREWING SERVICES GmbH, Hamburg, to promote new senior staff from within the pool of junior officers. ECS – ESSBERGER CREWING SERVICES GmbH, is one of the few German companies that offers it's seagoing staff not only a very competitive remuneration, but more importantly extremely favourable sea service times. ECS – ESSBERGER CREWING SERVICES GmbH, thrives to have permanent crew on board of it's vessels. On the chemical tanker fleet all officers and engineers serve in a two months on board and two months vacation scheme, allowing them not only to cope with the hard work on board, but also have sufficient leisure time with their families at home.

Go to Crewing-Department
  • Insurance and Claims

    • MTI Marine Transport Insurance Consulting GmbH is acting as claims and insurance consultants for and on behalf of inter alia shipowners, ship managers, charterers, cargo interests and negotiates the necessary main insurances such as but not limited to Hull & Machinery, P & I, Loss of Hire, War Risk etc. and handles all corresponding claims. It offers analyses on a regular basis and provides prompt advice in difficult marine insurance situations.

Contact Insurance Claims

Honorary Consulate Republic of South Africa

The company headquarters is home to the Honorary Consulate of the Republic of South Africa.

Honorary Consul -
Dr. Eberhart von Rantzau

As well as acting as a contact point, especially for visiting businessmen and women from South Africa, and setting up appropriate business contacts, an honorary consul’s duties include providing advice and tips about South Africa to anyone who is interested. Read more