The Hamburg Amerikanische Packetfahrt Actien Gesellschaft (HAPAG for short, often referred to in English as Hamburg America Line (sometimes also Hamburg-American Line, Hamburg-Amerika Linie or Hamburg Line); literally Hamburg American Packet-shipping Joint Stock Company) was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, Germany during 1847. Among the initiators were prominent citizens such as Adolph Godeffroy, Ferdinand Laeisz, H. J. Merck, Carl Woermann, August Bolten and others. It soon developed into the largest German, and at times the world's largest, shipping company, serving the market created by the German immigration to the United States and later immigration from Eastern Europe. On September 1, 1970, after 123 years of independent existence, HAPAG merged with the Bremen-based North German Lloyd to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.
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In the early years, the Hamburg America Line exclusively connected European ports with North American ports, such as Hoboken, New Jersey or New Orleans, Louisiana. With time, however, the company established lines to all continents.
Hamburg America Line lost almost the entirety of its fleet twice, as a result of each of World War I and World War II. During 1970, the company merged with longtime rival Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd) of Bremen to establish the current-day Hapag-Lloyd, which itself is owned by the corporation TUI AG.