Board of Management

Detthold Aden (President, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board)

Detthold Aden started his professional career in the shipping trade from scratch. After training and gaining experience at various companies, he became the founding manager of the private parcel service UPS United Parcel Service in Germany in 1976. In 1982, Aden assumed sole management of Bertelsmenn subsidiary VVA, the later Bertelsmann Distribution GmbH. The company was awarded the German Logistics Prize in 1987, and he was appointed Chairman of the Management Board of the Union Transport Group in 1988. The founding of the franchise co-operation Unitrans and the merger with the Nedlloyd Group took place under his initiative. In 1990, Aden became Chairman of the Management Board of Thyssen Haniel Logistic GmbH and was responsible for the merging of the company Thyssen Trans with those of Haniel Spedition. He was also appointed as a member of the Executive Board of Thyssen Handelsunion AG in 1995. The THL Group was sold to Belgian Rail in 1998 because of the Thyssen Group’s concentration on core competencies.
Detthold Aden has been the Chairman of the Executive Board of the BLG LOGISTICS GROUP AG & Co. KG since 1999.

Mandates / Honorary Positions:

• Honorary Consul of the Republic of Finland for the state of Bremen and the administrative districts of Ammerland, Cloppenburg, Friesland, Oldenburg, Wesermarsch and Wittmund, as well as the urban districts of Delmenhorst, Oldenburg and Wilhelmshaven in the state of Lower Saxony
• Zentralverband der deutschen Seehafenbetriebe e.V., (Central Association of German Seaport Operations), Hamburg  (President)
• German Transport Forum, Berlin (Member of the Executive Committee)

Manfred Kuhr (Vice Chairman of the Executive Board)

Manfred Kuhr, forwarding merchant and graduate in business administration, began his career at BLG.
Soon after, he took charge of operations at the container terminal and became the deputy manager of all BLG facilities in Bremerhaven.
Between 1986 and 1994, he was responsible for the business division of Far East Marketing/Sales, then becoming part of the Executive Board of Bavarian Lloyd and at the same time a member of the management at Rhenus AG.
1997 saw Manfred Kuhr return to the BLG Group as the Vice Chairman of the Executive Board.

Hartmut Mekelburg

Hartmut Mekelburg has been the Human Relations Officer (Arbeitsdirektor) of BLG since 2006. Born in 1952, Mekelburg has been dedicated to the workers’ council activities since his technical training at BLG in 1966. 1990 saw him elected as the Chairman of the Works Council and assume the tasks of the Chairman of the corporate workers’ council from 1998 after the BLG restructuring.

Hillert Onnen

Hillert Onnen came to BLG in 1971 after undertaking business courses, traineeships and then completing economics studies. He took on managerial tasks soon after. One of his main focus areas was the successful restructuring of the corporate group in 1996/97. The Executive Board division of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) covers the areas of finance, holding management, controlling, purchases, IT, accounting, law and insurance.

Emanuel Schiffer

Emanuel Schiffer went out to sea as a naval engineer and then completed advanced studies in business administration before arriving at BLG. After initial positions in the technical area, he took on leading roles in the Bremerhaven operation management. He was elected into the BLG Executive Board in 1995. Emanuel Schiffer has also been the Chairman of the Group Management Board of EUROGATE since 1999.