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Museumstickets 2025 - Cap San Diego

1/21/2025 / 10:00 AM

Hamburg, Cap San Diego

Allow me to introduce: Cap San Diego

Our ship was commissioned in 1962 after about eleven months of construction. It was the last of a total of six identical general cargo ships that operated on the route between Europe and South America. It primarily transported machinery, technical equipment, and chemical products southbound. From South America, raw coffee, cocoa, beef, and fruits were typically loaded in refrigerated compartments, as well as edible oils in heated tanks. By the way, the "Cap San Diego" never transported bananas.

The contractor for the freighter was the shipping company Hamburg Süd, which at that time belonged to the Dr. Oetker Group. All ships of this series, known as "Class," were named after a geographical "Cap San..." (or "Capo San...") – our ship is named after the western tip of Tierra del Fuego, Cape San Diego.

The "Cap San Diego" was built at the Deutschen Werft in Hamburg-Finkenwerder (where the Airbus plant is now located). It and its CAP-SAN sister ships were state-of-the-art at the time: Before the introduction of containers, goods were loaded loose in boxes, sacks, or barrels. For this purpose, the ship features, among other things, large cargo holds and masts equipped with loading booms and two gantry cranes. All technical facilities could be operated comfortably. The CAP-SAN ships were sought after as workplaces not least because of this by crews and dock workers alike.

The freighter could carry up to 10,000 tons of cargo – an amount that was loaded in general cargo operations in about seven days. The same amount is now moved in containers in a maximum of eight hours. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the "Cap San Diego" became unprofitable just a few years after its commissioning due to the onset of container shipping. After the sale of the ship in the early 1980s, it even faced the threat of scrapping in Asia in 1986. Literally at the last moment, the "Cap San Diego" was saved through the engagement of the city of Hamburg and now lies as a genuine "Hamburg girl" at the Überseebrücke in front of the Elbphilharmonie.

Several times a year, the ship sets sail. Come aboard and experience the "Cap San Diego" come to life. All areas of the ship are open to you, from the bridge to the engine room. The crew is happy to show and explain to you all the functions of the largest seagoing museum freighter in the world.

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