Approximately 90 years ago the shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen with 26,000 employees reached its peak and won with their ships several times the "Blaue Band", which was awarded for the fastest Atlantic crossing. Legendary steamships like "Bremen" and "Columbus" were always equipped with motors and generators made by Lloyd Dynamowerke (LDW), which had been established in 1915 under participation of a subsidiary of Norddeutsche Lloyd.

In the meantime the shipping company is merged to Hapag Lloyd based in Hamburg, while LDW is still based in Bremen and still sucessfully operates all over the world. For a long time LDW was part of the AEG-group, but however remained independent as brand and enterprise. In the 1980's the AEG even transferred its entire know-how from the sector of the electrical machines to LDW.