The large dockworkers' strike in the winter of 1896/97 drew attention for the first time to the conditions in the Hamburg port. It was found that things were different here than even in the largest industrial areas of the inland. The term dockworker for those working on and around the water distinctly sets them apart from other worker groups. The various categories of dockworkers have emerged from the old shipping trade. In old Hamburg, when ships arrived and were moored at the docks, the crew would unload the goods. If they were insufficient, sailors would be called in for assistance. If the ships were in the river or if it was more advantageous for the merchant to take the goods from the ships at the dock to the water, the riverboatmen would transfer the goods in barges. In the same way, it was done.