BLG Logistics Group AG & Co. KG is a seaport and

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

company with

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

. The operative divisions offer services for automobile, industry and trading customers. The company has more than 100 locations in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

North and South America The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

History

1877 to 1933

65 merchants founded Bremer Lagerhaus-Gesellschaft -Aktiengesellschaft von 1877- (BLG) in February 1877. A key factor in the company's creation was the desire of Bremen

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

traders to obtain an improved warehousing and trading infrastructure, including the option of issuing

warehouse receipt A warehouse receipt is a document that provides proof of ownership of commodities (e.g., bars of copper) that are stored in a warehouse, vault, or depository for safekeeping. Warehouse receipts may be negotiable or non-negotiable. Negotiable wareh ...

s and

warrants Warrant may refer to: * Warrant (law), a form of specific authorization ** Arrest warrant, authorizing the arrest and detention of an individual ** Search warrant, a court order issued that authorizes law enforcement to conduct a search for eviden ...

. The business was restricted to handling and storage; it did not include the

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

of goods. The company's own initial five warehouses went into operation in 1878 on the left bank of the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...

in the Sicherheitshafen – referred to since approx. 1900 by locals as Hohentorshafen. BLG itself provided for the early connection to the

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

. In the first decade of operation, the company stored mainly

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

and

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

lard Lard is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.Lard
entry in the o ...

bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...

and

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, cotton, sheep's

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

and

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

. In 1888, BLG expanded its operations to the Europahafen (Free Port I) on the right bank of the Weser, which following Bremen's accession to the Customs Union (October 1888) was conceived as a

free port Free economic zones (FEZ), free economic territories (FETs) or free zones (FZ) are a class of special economic zone (SEZ) designated by the trade and commerce administrations of various countries. The term is used to designate areas in which com ...

; the relevant operating agreement between Bremen and BLG dates back to May 1888. BLG played a seminal role in the development of port facilities on the right bank of the Weser up until

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. With its completion in 1906, the company also became active in the Free Port II, the operating agreement was amended for this purpose. Moreover, from 1897, the company ran the Getreideverkehrsanlage (grain transport system) and in 1929, it took over the Weser Railway Station. As a reaction to the ramifications of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, BLG introduced the so-called "Krümpersystem" in the beginning of April 1932, intended to prevent unemployment through staggered furloughing of workers. The system remained in force until the end of April 1935.

1933 to 1945

During the course of the seizure of power by

National Socialists Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

in Bremen, the long-standing Chairman of the management board Kurt Dronke, a member of the

German State Party The German State Party (german: Deutsche Staatspartei or DStP) was a short-lived German political party of the Weimar Republic, formed by the merger of the German Democratic Party (Deutsche Demokratische Partei, DDP) with the People's National Rei ...

group in the State Parliament of Bremen, was forced out of office in April 1933. His successor was an

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

member. A similar fate befell Carl Krüger, who had been a member of the management board since 1931: Under political pressure, he requested a six-month leave of absence in September 1933, and on May 31, 1934, he retired. Based on National Socialist legislation, also in Bremen all temporary workers of the port were hired in an overall port operating company (in Bremen since June 25, 1934: Hafenbetriebsverein in Bremen e.V., a port operating association). This association assigned workers to the port operators, also to BLG. After the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, these laborers also included foreign workers,

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

, slave laborers from Central and Eastern Europe, and occasionally also prisoners and

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

inmates. In early January 1941, a fire set off by

incendiary bombs Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, th ...

ravaged the administrative offices of BLG. Explosive and incendiary bombs destroyed a large part of the port and its facilities by the end of the war (warehouses,

silo A silo (from the Greek σιρός – ''siros'', "pit for holding grain") is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage, not to be confused with a grain bin, which is used t ...

s, enclosures, cranes,

hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...

equipment, rails, lines, grain facilities, Weser Railway Station etc.).

1945 to 1998

The authorities in the

American Zone of Occupation Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Fran ...

dismissed ten executive employees of BLG on September 17, 1945. The company obtained a renewal of its operating permit on November 29, 1945. As repairs to the port progressed, the activities of BLG were revitalized. Initially, the business was focused mainly on the Überseehafen, then repairs began on the Europahafen. In 1951, the Weser Railway Station resumed operations. In the first half of the 1950s, operations also began in the cold storage warehouse at the Holz- und Fabrikenhafen. HafenhochhausBremen

From mid-1953, BLG was also directing operations in the Ports of

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

. This involved the Kaiserhafen, Columbuskaje, the Neuer Hafen and the Verbindungshafen. The Nordhafen was added later.''Bremer Lagerhausgesellschaft''. In: Schwarzwälder: ''

Das Große Bremen-Lexikon ''Das Große Bremen-Lexikon'' is an 18th-century encyclopaedia by the Freie Hansestadt Bremen, written by Herbert Schwarzwälder about * the region, as Territory of Bremen, as Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (Bremen Archbishopric), as Bremen-Verd ...

, Vol. 1, A–K''. In 1959, the municipality of Bremen and BLG concluded an operating agreement, which provided that the city maintain the majority of shares. In 1961, the company moved into the newly built port high-rise structure at the head of the Überseehafen. Two years later, the City of Bremen and BLG signed a contractual agreement that allowed the company to assume third-party loans in the

capital market A capital market is a financial market in which long-term debt (over a year) or equity-backed securities are bought and sold, in contrast to a money market where short-term debt is bought and sold. Capital markets channel the wealth of savers t ...

for additional projects. This is how it financed the significant expenditures for the building and operation of the Neustädter Hafen (operating from 1965/1966) as well as for the building and operation of the

container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...

s in Bremerhaven (construction from 1968; operation from 1971). Already in 1966, the first container vessel appeared in Europe, the ''Fairland'', and called on the Überseehafen. Since 1967, there was a temporary facility for RoRo vessels in this port; at the end of 1973, there was one available on a permanent basis in the Europahafen. From 1970 on, Bremerhaven was regularly frequented by LASH mother ships. From February 1974, a floating

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

moorage was located at the head of the Überseehafen. In 1979, BLG took over the Cape Horn handling facility from Anker Schiffahrtsgesellschaft with access to the Weser as well as to the Industriehafen. In the same year, the RoRo facility in the Neustädter Hafen was ready for operation. BLG participated in the booming container business in the 1980s, which completely reshaped the port economy and in Bremerhaven, in particular, led to the expansion of the terminals in several phases. The stiff competition put downward pressure on the margins at BLG. The recession of the world economy at the beginning of the 1980s led to

layoff A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing (reducing the ...

s of BLG employees in the industrial and commercial sector. Through business contacts to

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

and later to

Daimler-Benz The Mercedes-Benz Group Aktiengesellschaft, AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It ...

, the company began with logistics services for the

automobile industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % such ...

and in doing so, improved its

value added In business, total value added is calculated by tabulating the unit value added (measured by summing unit profit sale price and production cost">Price.html" ;"title="he difference between Price">sale price and production cost], unit depreciatio ...

, initially per dispersion of supplier material to German factories, then per Knock-down kit, Semi Knocked Down and Completely Knocked Down. BLG also took over logistical services with improved value added since 1980 for

Minolta was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated autofocu ...

. The fall of the socialist regimes in

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europe. ...

at the end of the 1980s/beginning of the 1990s meant significant cargo losses for BLG in the conventional business. The company experienced a crisis.

Since 1998

At the beginning of the 1990s, the objective was to develop from a local port company into an international logistics group, according to Detthold Aden, who as Chairman of the Management Board promoted this change from 1999 to 2013. Already in 1998, the organizational structure was revamped: The BLG Group was created with Bremer Lagerhaus-Gesellschaft -Aktiengesellschaft von 1877- as the general partner and the new BLG Logistics Group AG & Co. KG as the limited partner. As a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

, the KG focused on the strategic orientation and growth of the Group. Since that time, several branch subsidiaries and affiliates have operated under the Group umbrella in corporate independence. They fall under the three operative divisions: automobile, contract and container. In 1999, the container business was merged with Hamburg's Eurokai into Eurogate. Today, this

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

operates container terminals on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

and on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. Moreover, Eurogate has holdings in several inland terminals and railway cargo companies. In 2002, BLG Logistics took over the contract logistics of Paul Günther Logistik AG (Hamburg) and thus gained logistics locations in eastern Germany. Furthermore, it acquired 50 percent of the shares in the vehicle forwarding company E.H. Harms Automobile Logistics operating in Bremen and Bremerhaven. In 2009, the company increased its share to 94 percent. In the year 2002, the headquarters of BLG Logistics moved into a building next to the former American Consular Agency, and since 2006, also into this historic building. In 2003, the high-bay warehouse went into operation at Bremen's Güterverkehrszentrum (cargo transport center). In 2008 the company acquired half the shares in CTL Car Transport Logistics GmbH. This company changed its name and became BLG AutoRail GmbH. Up to 2017, it expanded its rail vehicle carriers to some 1500 units. The contract division began in 2015 with the establishment of the Fashion logistics division. In 2016, the company acquired ''Fortagroup'', followed in 2017 by the purchase of ''Kitzinger & Co.'' and its subsidiary ''Arno Rosenlöcher''. In 2021, the company sold its forwarding activities in the sea and air freight business, which were organized in ''BLG International Forwarding'', to ''

Rhenus Rhenus may refer to: *the Latin name of the Rhine * Rhenus of Carthage (died 259), one of the Martyrs of Carthage under Valerian *Rhenus Pater, allegory or personification of the river *a ship of the Classis Misenensis * Rhenus (company) The Rhe ...

. Air & See''; the BLG forwarding location in Bremen war not part of that deal. 2022, a joint venture with

Hyundai Glovis Hyundai Glovis Co., Ltd. is a logistics company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and part of the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group. Its predecessor company, Hankook Logitech Co. Ltd was formed in February 2001. Hyundai Glovis supplies ocean transp ...

was launched in Bremerhaven.

Structures, shareholders, management

Structures

The BLG Group consists of Bremer Lagerhaus-Gesellschaft -Aktiengesellschaft von 1877- as general partner and BLG Logistics Group AG & Co. KG as limited partner. The Municipality of Bremen owns 100 percent of the KG. It owns a majority (50.4 percent)BLG Logistics
''Information about our share''
information on the website, retrieved on January 26, 2023. in Bremer Lagerhaus-Gesellschaft -Aktiengesellschaft von 1877-. Several branch subsidiaries and affiliates have operated under the Group umbrella in corporate independence. They fall under the three operative divisions Automobile, Contract and Container.

Shareholders

The shares of the publicly-listed Bremer Lagerhaus-Gesellschaft -Aktiengesellschaft von 1877- are divided up between: * Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Municipality * Financial holding of the Sparkasse in Bremen (Sparkasse savings bank in Bremen) * Waldemar Koch Stiftung foundation * Panta Re AG *

Free float In the context of stock markets, the public float or free float represents the portion of shares of a corporation that are in the hands of public investors as opposed to locked-in shares held by promoters, company officers, controlling-interest inv ...

Management and executive bodies

Frank Dreeke has been a member of the Management Board since the beginning of 2013. Since June 1, 2013 he has been Chairman of this body, which consists of five people. Klaus Meier is the Chairman of the 16-person supervisory board. 16 members comprise the advisory board, which is headed up by Frank Straube (

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

). The mission of this body is to advise the company in all matters of strategic

corporate development Corporate development refers to the planning and execution of strategies to meet organizational objectives. The kinds of activities falling under corporate development may include management team recruitment, phasing in or out of markets or produc ...

Additional information

Buildings at headquarters

The company headquarters has been in a building complex in the center of Bremen since 2002. This includes the building of the former Consular Agency of the United States on Präsident-Kennedy-Platz in the Bremen district of Mitte. It was built in 1954 in the so-called post-war modern international style according to blueprints from

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...

, in collaboration with Otto Apel. It has been under

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

since 1994. From 2005 to 2007, it was refurbished for use by BLG Logistics.

Bremer Unternehmergespräche event

Detthold Aden, the long-standing BLG Chairman of the Management Board launched the Bremer Unternehmensgespräche, a round table for business. The event regularly occurs in the

Bremen City Hall The Bremen City Hall (german: Bremer Rathaus) is the seat of the President of the Senate and Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. It is one of the most important examples of Brick Gothic and Weser Renaissance architecture in Europe. Si ...

and is hosted by BLG Logistics, along with the

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of Economics, Labor and Europe and the Bremen

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

Sponsorships

Since 2005/2006, the company supports the professional basketball club

Eisbären Bremerhaven Eisbären Bremerhaven ( en, Polar Bears Bremerhaven) is a professional basketball club from Bremerhaven, Germany, that competes in the ProA. The team was established as the professional section of the club BSG Bremerhaven and played in the first- ...

. Since 2010, the company is also a sponsor of the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club

SV Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

References

External links

BLG Logistics Group
* {{Authority control Companies based in Bremen Logistics companies of Germany German companies established in 1877