Hi Carola,
The Hamburg-Hull-Liverpool-USA route was very common. There is a sculpture at Hull railway station that commemorates this.
A Chicago distant cousin of mine made a programme for the BBC's Coast series in 2008, as his ancestor made this trip in 1892. His ancestor was lucky as it was the last trip out of Hamburg for some months, due to a Cholera outbreak.
Jill Whitehead, Surrey, UK