About Schiff & Hafen

Schiff & Hafen

Schiff & Hafen is a German trade magazine for shipping and maritime technology, published in Hamburg by DVV Media Group. Founded on 1 April 1949, it is one of the longest-running maritime specialist publications in the world, covering shipbuilding, ship operation, ports, offshore technology, and marine engineering for an international professional readership. The magazine appears every two months in print and is complemented by the English-language sister title Ship & Offshore, a biweekly newsletter, and the schiffundhafen.de portal. It serves as the official specialist organ of Germany's leading maritime professional associations and has published the SMM Daily News, the official daily paper of the world's leading shipbuilding trade fair, for more than two decades.

Overview

Schiff & Hafen addresses the technical and commercial leadership of the maritime industry: naval architects and shipbuilding engineers, executives and specialists from shipping companies, ports, shipyards, and marine-equipment suppliers. Published in German with English-language content through its sister title, the magazine covers the full breadth of modern shipbuilding technology, marine mechanical and nautical engineering, ship management, and port operations. Its standing sections include shipbuilding and ship technology, offshore and marine technology, shipping and ports, and careers and personnel, giving readers a structured overview of industry developments and product innovation.

The print magazine now appears six times a year in a bimonthly rhythm, alternating month by month with the English-language Ship & Offshore, so that subscribers receive a monthly maritime technology magazine across the two titles. Between print issues, a biweekly newsletter and the digital portals carry the news flow. Special publications accompany major industry events, and the brand's portfolio includes the VDMA special on German marine equipment and Talents for Maritime, the career magazine for the maritime professions, which appeared in its eleventh edition in the summer of 2026.

Editorially, the magazine combines technically detailed specialist articles with industry reporting: propulsion technology, green-ship technologies, digitalization and smart shipping, ship financing, and port construction all feature regularly. The emphasis on technical substance, presented in a modern and readable design since a 2007 relaunch, distinguishes it from general shipping news outlets and anchors its authority with engineering readers.

History

Schiff & Hafen was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War as a deliberate act of continuity. Two of Germany's great maritime journals, Schiffbau, founded in 1900, and Werft Reederei Hafen, founded in 1920, had both been discontinued at the war's end. Their former publishers and editors regrouped in Hamburg and, on 1 April 1949, launched Schiff & Hafen as their successor, initially through the Seehafen Verlag. From the 1980s onward the title has been published by DVV Media Group, the Hamburg specialist publisher for transport and logistics.

The magazine thus carries a publishing lineage stretching back to the turn of the twentieth century, through the golden age of German shipbuilding, two world wars, and the postwar reconstruction of the merchant fleet. In the postwar decades it documented the rebuilding of German shipping, the container revolution that transformed ports including its home port of Hamburg, and the rise and restructuring of German shipyards. The crises of European shipbuilding in the late twentieth century, and the industry's pivot toward specialized vessels, cruise ships, and offshore technology, all unfolded in its pages.

The 2007 redesign gave the magazine a contemporary visual identity while preserving its technical depth. In recent years the publishing model has evolved toward the current alternating German-English print rhythm, reflecting the internationalization of the maritime industry and of the Hamburg publishing operation. Throughout these changes, the magazine has retained its role as the German-language technical journal of record for shipping and shipbuilding.

Coverage and Content

The editorial program is organized around the industry's technology and business cycles. Shipbuilding coverage follows new vessel designs, yard orders, and construction technology, with technically detailed articles on propulsion systems, hull design, and onboard systems. Green-ship technology, the industry's response to decarbonization pressure, has become a defining theme: alternative fuels, exhaust treatment, energy efficiency, and the regulatory frameworks of the IMO and the EU are covered as both engineering and business stories.

Offshore and marine technology reporting tracks the equipment suppliers, subsea technology, and offshore-energy sectors, while the shipping and ports sections cover fleet developments, port construction and operations, and maritime logistics. Ship management topics include crewing, training, and the human element of modern shipping, and the careers section addresses the industry's persistent need for qualified personnel, from naval architects to seafarers.

Event journalism is a specialty. The magazine reports from the industry's congresses, trade fairs, and company anniversaries, and its most prominent event product is the SMM Daily News, the official daily newspaper of the SMM fair in Hamburg, the world's leading shipbuilding trade fair, which the magazine has produced for more than twenty years. Special editions and directories, including the German Offshore Equipment Directory covering the country's offshore supply industry, extend the brand into reference publishing.

Organization and Ownership

Schiff & Hafen is published by DVV Media Group GmbH, based at Heidenkampsweg 73-79, 20097 Hamburg. DVV Media Group is a leading German specialist publisher for transport, logistics, and mobility, and the maritime titles form one of its core clusters. The magazine's editor-in-chief is Kathrin Lau, and Martin Weber is named as managing director in public records. The print ISSN is 0938-1643.

The title's institutional anchoring is exceptional. Schiff & Hafen is the official specialist organ of the Verband Deutscher Kapitäne und Schiffsoffiziere (VDKS), the Schiffbautechnische Gesellschaft (STG), the Gesellschaft für Maritime Technik (GMT), and the Center of Maritime Technologies (CMT). It additionally serves as the specialist forum for the Verband für Schiffbau und Meerestechnik (VSM), the VDMA's shipbuilding and offshore supply-industry group, and historically the Germanischer Lloyd classification society. These designations make the magazine part of the organizational fabric of the German maritime industry, carrying association communications alongside independent journalism.

The business model combines subscriptions and controlled circulation to qualified maritime professionals with advertising from shipyards, equipment manufacturers, classification societies, and service providers, plus the event publishing business around SMM and special editions.

Digital Presence

The brand operates two portals: schiffundhafen.de for the German-language audience and shipandoffshore.net for the international market, each with its own email newsletter. The digital offering spans classic banner advertising, sponsored content, and video formats, and the biweekly newsletter delivers curated market information as a designed PDF product. Media data for 2026 present the portfolio as a bimonthly magazine, a biweekly e-paper, and digital formats, with the English sister title covering themes such as smart shipping, green technology, and ship repair.

The Talents for Maritime career magazine, published each summer, provides an overview of study programs, apprenticeships, and training providers in the maritime economy, addressing the industry's recruitment challenge directly. The German Offshore Equipment Directory serves as the industry reference for German offshore suppliers. Together, the print, digital, event, and directory products make Schiff & Hafen a full-service media brand for the maritime professions rather than a magazine alone.

A Hamburg Institution

Few trade magazines can claim the continuity of Schiff & Hafen: a founding date in 1949, a lineage reaching back to 1900, and an unbroken run through the most turbulent three-quarters of a century in shipping history. Published in Hamburg, Europe's great maritime media city, it has been the journal in which German shipbuilding talked to itself about technology, and in which the industry's associations spoke to their members. As shipping confronts decarbonization, digitalization, and geopolitical disruption, the magazine's combination of technical depth, institutional trust, and international reach gives it a durable role in the maritime information landscape.