The Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate and the German Bunker Coal Business, 1905–1947

The first wave of globalisation is unthinkable without coal and coal business institutions. Coal was not only the means of propulsion with the transition from sailing ships to steamships but was also quantitatively the most important transport commodity. Coal was not the first bulk commodity to be traded via sea routes, but the use of coal brought about a reduction in overseas transport costs. However, this effect was not independent of the production areas. The availability of coal undoubtedly exerted a considerable influence on sinking freight formation, but the location of the production areas was also of particular importance during the first wave of globalisation. The most important coalfields were in England, close to the coast. Of the 63.5 million tonnes of coal mined in England in 1855, 4 million tonnes were already exported. On the eve of World War I, England produced 292.1 million tonnes and exported almost a hundred million tonnes. However, the pure export figures do not indicate British market dominance (Harley, 1989, pp. 311–338). Of central importance for British dominance on the trade and transport routes were the coal depots and bunker stations, which supplied the steamships on their voyages with new steam coal, which not least made it possible to increase the cargo space of the transport ships (see Chap. 2 ). It is therefore not surprising that approximately one-third of British coal exports were bunker coals (Fremdling, 2003, p. 96). The globalised bunker coal business was practically dominated by British coal until the turn of the century. It was not until around the turn of the century that German overseas shipping companies tried to revive the business through competition. They turned to the German Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate (hereafter RWKS), founded in 1893, for this purpose.