Located about 30 miles outside the city of Hamburg on the south bank of the river Elbe is the main office of SAL. SAL is the exclusive agent for one of the leading carriers specialized in the world wide transport of heavy lift cargo.

1865 – Delivery of First Vessel

The history of SAL can be traced back as far as 1865, when the first sailing vessel SS "Amoenitas" was delivered to the Heinrich family by the Sietas ship yardin Germany. Over the next 150 years, five generations continued to be engaged in shipping.

1980 - Launching of the Modern Office

In 1980, the modern SAL office was founded by Hans Heinrich. In 1984, Hans Heinrich, together with his brother Claus, took over the management of 3 vessels from their father Paul Heinrich (PH). In the same year, the first geared vessels with 2 x 38 mtons SWL were ordered. A little more than two decades later, the four new buildings of type 176 feature cranes with up to 700 mtons SWL each.

Since 2001 SAL has been under the joint management and ownership of the Heinrich and Rolner families and has grown to a staff of almost 100 ashore and about 500 crew members on the vessels worldwide.

Technical Expertise of SAL Heavy Lift Engineering

The extensive experience of SAL GmbH & Co. KG is paralleled by the technical expertise of SAL Heavy Lift Engineering GmbH. Located under one roof, both companies cooperate closely to guarantee for a maximum of reliability and client satisfaction.

2007 - Joint Venture with "K" Line

In April 2007, SAL entered a joint venture with the "K" Line Groupheaded by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisa, Ltd., Tokyo. With a fleet totalling over 440 vessels, "K" Line is one of the leading shipping companies in the world.

The joint venture by these two shipping companies with their long histories will offer customers a wide variety of synergy effects. While SAL's strength lies in its extensive experience in heavy lift shipping, "K" Line's contribution emerges from its worldwide logistical network and its highly diversified fleet.

World Wide Representation

While the SAL main office is located in Germany, a world wide network of agents and officesensures the efficiency of local cargo handling. Since 2001, SAL is directly represented in China by its SAL Shanghai representative office. A Beijing representative officewas launched in 2007. With the newly created joint venture between "K" Line and SAL, an SAL office  was opened in "K" Line's Tokyo head office in 2007 to fully implement all aspects of this new partnership. Since September 2007, SAL is also represented directly in the UK: the SAL UK Representative Officeis located in "K" Line’s Europe headquarter in London. In 2009, SAL opened offices in Genoa/Italy, Fremantle/Western Australiaand Helsinki/Finland, in 2010, an office in the "K" Line America Inc. premises in Houston followed.

2010 – 30 years anniversary
 
On May 9, 2010, SAL celebrated its 30th anniversary. Starting with three staff and three vessels in 1980, the company has grown to become a leading heavy lift carrier with almost 100 staff ashore, about 500 crew members on board and a fleet of currently 14 vessels. To capture the long history of the company that dates back to 1865, we put together an anniversary brochure that highlights the various development phases of SAL.

Company Structure

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