Köln-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt GmbH will be celebrating its anniversary in 2026. The company will be a proud 200 years old. It started on June 11, 1826 as the Preußisch- Rheinische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft. This 200-year history is peppered with exciting and surprising stories, characterized by the faces of the people who are part of these stories, and there are countless secrets that are far from being revealed.

We will be highlighting at least 200 of these stories, faces and secrets in the coming issues of "RheinZeit" and on all other Köln-Düsseldorfer channels. Follow us on social media at kd.rheinschiffahrt and immerse yourself in the exciting history of Rhine shipping.

The man of the hour was Peter Heinrich Merkens

There is already a small foretaste of what is to come. Speaking of faces: who was the man at the cradle of the Prussian-Rhenish Steamship Company, the forerunner of the Cologne-Düsseldorf Company? The president and major shareholder was Peter Heinrich Merkens. He was born on December 29, 1777 in Mülheim am Rhein (at that time not yet a district of Cologne, which it only became in 1914). Merkens was a successful entrepreneur, banker and politician. He demonstrated extraordinary foresight when it came to economic decisions. Among other things, Merkens founded the insurance company Rheinschiffahrts-Assecuranzgesellschaft in 1818, the first independent insurance company for the transportation of goods on the Rhine. It later became Agrippina-Versicherung.

Also willing to take risks privately

The entrepreneur was not afraid to take risks in his private life either. For his wedding to his first wife Elisabeth Coels, he defied all conventions and married her against the wishes of the bride's parents. Even the Catholic Church did not recognize the marriage because the bride was Catholic and the groom was Protestant and Reformed. After the death of his wife, he married Ottilie DuMont, daughter of the tobacco manufacturer Johann Michael DuMont. As a result of the marriage, Johann Maria Farina, the well-known manufacturer of cologne, became Merken's brother-in-law. There is even a statue of Merkens on Cologne's town hall tower. It stands next to the figure of the German art historian Sulpiz Boisserée.

Participation expressly encouraged

Of course, 200 years of company history also conceal a number of secrets. For example, the silver treasure of the Köln-Düsseldorfer. Some of the "Stories, faces and secrets" sections will be embedded in a quiz. True to the motto: "We ask, you answer." Possible questions could be: What is meant by treiding? Which films did KD provide the backdrop for? Why is the paddle wheeler "Goethe", which is on the nostalgia route on the Middle Rhine, a true Cologne native? There is also the "true-or-false game". Did Elvis ever travel on the KD ? Did the Köln-Düsseldorfer have its own wine cellars? Was there a time when passengers were allowed at the wheel?