Oil tanker ESSO Bremen. The builder’s model of the „ESSO Bremen“ was built in the workshop of Chr. Stührmann in Hamburg. Due to its scale of 1:100, the model is over 2.50 m long. It is located on deck 6 West in our section on the history of international tanker shipping.
The oil tanker „ESSO Bremen“ was built in 1959 by A.G. „Weser“ in Bremen. This is also where the history of its shipping company, the „ESSO Tankschiff Reederei“, began. This goes back to the „Handels- und Transportgesellschaft“ founded in Geestemünde in 1863, which became the „Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft“ (DAPG) in 1890. In 1924 the shipping company became the „Waried Tankschiff Reederei“ and in 1950 the „ESSO Tankschiff Reederei“. The name „ESSO“ is the phonetic form of the letters „S“ and „O“, which stand for „Standard Oil“. In 1984, the tankers were taken over by „Exxon International“ and the shipping company was reduced to an inland shipping division until its dissolution in 1993. The main company, which has been called „ESSO Deutschland GmbH“ since 1999, still exists and is based in Hamburg. However, it does not have a shipping division. This model is part of a generous donation of the company to the IMMH.
The „ESSO Bremen“ was part of an ambitious shipbuilding program launched by the shipping company in the mid-1950s. This also included her sister ships „ESSO Stuttgart“ (built in 1959 at Howaldtswerke in Hamburg), „ESSO Essen“ (1960, AG Weser shipyard in Bremen) and „ESSO Köln“ (1961, Howaldtswerke Kiel). Originally, the ships were planned for a capacity of around 36,000 t. However, the development of the market and shipbuilding technology made a carrying capacity of over 47,000 t possible. The ships, powered by steam turbines, initially sailed successfully but were adversely affected by the 1973 oil crisis. By this time, the business of transporting oil overseas had changed and required a new type of vessel. For this reason, all units were sold and scrapped in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, between 1976 and 1978.
The builder’s model of the „ESSO Bremen“ was built in the workshop of Chr. Stührmann in Hamburg. Due to its scale of 1:100, the model is over 2.50 m long. It is located on deck 6 West in our section on the history of international tanker shipping.