Most of them were private shipping companies like Norddeutscher Lloyd, based in Bremen, Germany. They could also be join-based companies with half of their company in Germany or England and the second half operate out of the United States. Sometimes they even owned the housing around the port of departure or landing to make some extra money and gouge unprepared people. Once immigrant people were unloaded in America the ships were usually filled with cargo to ship back to Europe along with a handful of passengers looking to return.