In June 1886 Bismarck was still German Chancellor and Daimler and Benz were fiddling around with their first attempts at motorized engines. That same year a bottle was thrown into the ocean and remained lost - until now.
The first years proved a difficult start for Germany's only deep-water port, Wilhelmshaven's Jade-Weser-Port container hub, inaugurated in 2012. But now its operators are seeking to make it a top terminal for supersize ships.
A German researcher is leading the charge to develop fully automated ships, making it possible to ferry cargo across the oceans without any crew on board. But many hurdles remain.
After a freighter went up in flames at the start of the month while carrying radioactive material into Hamburg's harbour, it has emerged that the German port city receives such hazardous cargo up to seven times a month.
German soldiers are moonlighting illegally at private security firms while off-duty, a newspaper revealed on Monday. Working as heavily armed guards on freighters or in war-zones, some do it for the cash and others for the adrenaline kick.
Troubled German regional bank HSH Nordbank has reached a deal with Greek shipping company Navios enabling the bank to cut its exposure to bad shipping loans in a deal it says could become a blueprint for the industry.
Two German tourists and an Australian have been rescued following two days in the sea in the central Philippines after their boat capsized while they were island hopping, the coast guard said Friday.
The biggest cargo ship in the world pulled into Hamburg harbour for the first time on Wednesday morning to unload 4,000 containers, signalling the beginning of regular visits for the giant vessel.
Pirates released a German-owned tanker off Togo on Friday, a day after capturing it, the International Maritime Bureau said as it warned of a rising number of attacks in the Gulf of Guinea.
A German ship which was stopped and searched in the Mediterranean on suspicion of smuggling arms to Syria has been given the all-clear by Turkish authorities which found no weapons on board.
A German freighter thought to be taking Iranian weapons to the Syrian government – in violation of the European embargo - has been stopped. The shipping firm has denied all reports of the ship having arms on board.
Finnish customs authorities have impounded 69 Patriot missiles and 150 tons of explosives from a ship loaded in Germany and bound for China. German officials say the shipment was a legal sale to South Korea, but the ship was not licensed for the cargo.
German heavy industry giant ThyssenKrupp said on Monday it had agreed to sell its non-military shipbuilding activities Blohm + Voss to British investment fund Star Capital Partners.
The British WWII bomb discovered in Koblenz is causing an even bigger evacuation effort this week than when it and many others were dropped over the city in 1944, destroying nearly everything.
Plans are being made to evacuate nearly half the residents of Koblenz next weekend so that a 1.8 tonnes British WWII bomb found in the Rhine River can be defused. Two hospitals and a prison are within the evacuation zone.
Former owner of the bankrupt Beluga shipping firm Niels Stolberg has been accused of funnelling money donated to rebuild a school in Thailand after the 2004 tsunami in Asia into his company’s coffers as he battled to keep it afloat.
A large container ship nearly sunk in Hamburg’s port late on Monday after a crash into another ship that left emergency officials scrambling to contain the damage.
Monster trucks could soon be coming to a German autobahn near you. A controversial programme aims to test the 25-metre-long "gigaliners" on the country's roads.
German ships braving the waters off Somalia will now be able to officially employ private security firms to fight off attacks by pirates, after the government admitted it could not provide the protection itself.
Nuclear material and dangerous chemicals for the nuclear power industry are reportedly being shipped through the Baltic port city of Rostock without anyone being informed.
Several explosions occurred on a tanker ship being loaded with fuel at the Lingen-Holthausen refinery in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia late on Monday, police said. The vessel caught fire and sank.
