Innovation as motivation for development

Bremen experiences a dramatic boom as a port and trading city with the new BLG model. From 1888, BLG thus also takes on operation of the newly built Free Port I. Soon after come Free Port II, the granary, and in 1953 also the free ports in Bremerhaven. The Neustadt port is built in Bremen in the 1960s.

The change from the pushcart to the forklift changes port operations in the 1950s. RoRo ships are built for overseas transportation. Trailers are held at the port and rolled onto the ships with tractors on onboard ramps. Soon, everything with wheels is rolled onboard on its own axl

Bremen as the first German container port

The first containers come across the Atlantic to Europe in the mid 1960s, and in May 1966, Bremen becomes the first German container port. Containers need special equipment and lots of space, which is why the container terminal in Bremerhaven is built from 1968. There is enough free space at the mouth of the Weser. So far, the terminal has grown to a length of five kilometres. Bremerhaven is one of the top 20 world container ports.

In the early 1970s, BLG acknowledges the importance of computers as a production factor, resulting in the Bremen Ports database in 1973 and with it, the first port information system in the world. Handling companies, shipping companies, shipping agents, load controllers and authorities form a union, and the foundations for the IT network are la

Bremerhaven, the automobile hub

When the Japanese automobile industry commenced its export offensive in the late 1970s, BLG is there right from the start, and starts building the Bremerhaven car terminal. Today, Bremerhaven is one of the largest automobile hubs in the world with over two million vehicles a year.

By the 1980s, it was clear that port handling and warehousing was no longer economically sufficient, with increasing pressure from competition and declining revenue. To increase added value, BLG expands its range of services, and the first logistics centres are established in Bremen and Bremerhaven.

The eastern markets collapse in the 1990s, and globalisation sees revenue from transport services again decline. Both affect the core business of BLG, but the company gains new strength after its restructuring with a global strategy, and develops into an international logistics service provider.

The BLG LOGISTICS GROUP today works in the business divisions of AUTOMOBILE, CONTRACT and CONTAINER. The local port company has become an international logistics group.

BLG is a market leader in Europe in the business divisions of AUTOMOBILE and CONTAINER with its holding companies. In the CONTRACT area, it is one of the leading German providers. Worldwide, the corporate group now creates over 14,000 jobs.