The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG), often referred to as the Hamburg America Line or Hamburg-American Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, in 1847. With Albert Ballin as Director General. It soon developed into the largest German, and at times the world's largest, shipping company, serving the market created by German immigration to the United States and later immigration from Eastern Europe. On 1 September 1970, after 123 years of independent existence, HAPAG merged with the Bremen-based North German Lloyd to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.