A German inland shipping company with a remarkable name, 'Braunkohle' (meaning
brown coal or lignite, a locally found subsititute for coal) was variously
called 'Braunkohle Reederei' and 'Reederei und Spedition Braunkohle
GmbH' (Spedition meaning transportation generally) in the past.
The Binnenvaart
site shows a number of vessels belonging to Braunkohle and says the
company seat is (was) at Wesseling which is located on the Rhine south
of Cologne. Some links
to colour photos showing the remarkable orangey-brown of the funnel:
The second picture shows the house flag, somewhat vaguely it is true;
the same page has a drawing: orangey-brown with a white diamond placed
well inside the flag and bearing a black initial 'B'.
See also the following b/w photograph,
first on the page, showing the 'Braunkohle III', and perhaps we may interpret
the 'Köln' (Cologne) on the boat as implying
'Wesseling'. Nowadays the historical Braunkohle is only part of the
RSB Logistic concern (flag to be treated separately) - which is,
in its turn, part of the important RWE power group. Anyhow RSB has
Braunkohle as a starting point, 1918 to be exact, gradually expanding from
inland shipping to road transport and tankers (from 1939 on). After WWII
the main loads were construction materials and chemical substances followed,
in the 1960's and 1970's, by a move from towboats to push navigation. Exceptional
loads were shipped from 1977 on and the next year saw the establishment
of 'Reederei und Spedition Braunkohle GmbH' as a result of Braunkohle
and USG, a related warehousing and transportation company, merging.
In 1993, RSB Logistic GmbH became the new company name. Above facts gleaned
from this website.
Jan Mertens, 29 Jul 2006
Braunkohle pennant
image sent by Jan Mertens, 14 Jun 2009
A long Braunkohle pennant was offered on German eBay fairly recently:
no. 170310712238 (end 22 Mar 2009; text and pic saved only) put up by “antik-institorium”:
orange field, large white letters “Braunkohle” apparently without the white
diamond bearing a black initial “B”.
Approximate dimensions given as 180 cm by 350 cm which is, indeed,
rather long.
Jan Mertens, 14 Jun 2009
![[Braunkohle Reederei]](../images/d/de~brkoh.gif)
image by Jarig Bakker, 29 Jul 2006
See also:
![[Braunkohle pennant]](../images/d/de~braw.jpg)
image sent by Jan Mertens, 14 Jun 2009
