Fischmarkt Hamburg-Altona

As early as the 19th century there were attempts to merge the two already existing fish-markets of Hamburg and Altona into one common fishmarket. This merging was to take place mainly due to decades of ongoing rivalry between those two fishmarkets. The two fishmarkets were in fact only separated by official administrative borders: Altona's salesroom for fish, which has been operating since 1896, was only a few hundred metres away from Hamburg's salesroom, which remained on this site until 1971. After many negotiations, the two cities came to an arrangement about the modalities of a merger. In July 1934, the "Fischmarkt Hamburg Altona G.m.b.H." took up business as a subsidiary manufacturing company.

On the political side of things, the process was finally completed as the Greater Hamburg Act came into force on 1 April 1937 after several years of discussion. Former Prussian Altona was united with Wandsbek and Harburg-Wilhelmsburg with Hamburg, while Hamburg in return had to cede the city of Geesthacht, some smaller municipalities and its fishing port of Cuxhaven to Prussia. Through this process, the company was renamed to Fish Market Hamburg-Altona GmbH (FMH) in March 1938.

The shared Fischmarkt Hamburg-Altona alongside the big Weser markets became the most important fishing harbor in Germany. It grew to be the leading market for gourmet fish, the biggest trans-shipment center for herring and temporarily the dominating location of the German fish industry. Extensive changes in the international fish and fishing industry in the following years and decades were the reason that the main business of the FMH gradually shifted. The FMH succeeded in expanding the Fischmarkt Altona into the only specialized location for premium seafood products in Germany. It currently covers about a third of the consumption of fresh fish in the metropolitan area of Hamburg. Simultaneously, the development and marketing of commercial space for the fish industry businesses took on greater significance. In the 1980s, the FMH transitioned into a modern service industry.

In order to prepare the challenges of an intensified intra-European competition and possible market slumps due to a globalized economy, the company repositioned itself. The reason for this was to concentrate the future fish economy without restrictions at the fish market and to secure the workplaces at the FMH as well as the industry at the fishing port. With this in mind the FMH was sold to the "Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft" (HHLA) in December 1989. The transformation to a modern and economically focused company was finally finished.