Windfair Company of the Week - BLG LOGISTICS GROUP - 135 years old, and still young!

“We are 135 years old. Established for storage and cargo handling in Bremen in 1877, BLG is a relatively old company, but has managed to stay young. Today we are an international logistics specialist that propels its corporate development with a long-term growth strategy in Germany and abroad.” This is how BLG head Detthold Aden opened the company’s balance sheet conference in Bremen on May 8.

Though the focal point of its business activities is Europe, BLG increasingly follows its customers and market developments overseas. Through employment-intensive services BLG was able to create numerous new jobs in the last two years. The 14 years since restructuring have shown that the company’s global orientation has a positive impact on Bremen and Bremerhaven, too. In 1998 there were 3,000 jobs at BLG. At the moment over 8,000 employees work on the Weser and about 15,500 worldwide.

Pretax earnings climbed to 48.5 million euros:
In 2011 BLG attained Group sales of over one billion euros for the first time (1,008.5 million euros). That was 12.4 percent more than in 2010. Earnings before taxes rose by 42.2 percent to 48.5 million euros. Aden attributes the good results primarily to growth and process optimization. Investments in 2011 reached a level of 66.4 million euros and were thus nearly double the previous year’s figure. Equity increased by 6.9 percent to 353.2 million euros in the reporting year. As a result, the equity ratio climbed to 34.3 percent. Because of the positive development in the 2011 financial year, the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting will propose in June that the balance sheet profit reported in the stock corporation be used to pay out a dividend of 40 cents per share, 10 cents more than in the previous year.

With volume of 6.5 million vehicles market leader in automobile logistics:
In 2011 the Automobile Logistics Division handled and transported a total of 6.5 million vehicles via road, rail and water, including technical processing services, 20 percent more than in 2010. BLG thus further expanded its position as the European market leader in this segment. The volume at the seaport terminals rose primarily due to the continuing export boom. But there was slight growth in imports as well. In Bremerhaven vehicle handling increased by 30 percent to 2.08 million vehicles. This makes Bremerhaven number one in Europe.

To strengthen BLG AutoRail, BLG purchased a rail terminal in Falkenberg in the state of Brandenburg as a consolidation center for car transport via rail. Auto trains are put together in Falkenberg. In addition, BLG also wants to carry out inspections and repairs on railway wagons there. This year it expects rail shipments for 500,000 vehicles, as compared to 320,000 in 2011. By 2013 BLG plans to procure 1,300 railway wagons for 75 complete trains. Today there are 964 wagons in operation. A complete train saves 19 truck shipments on the road. The company also deploys seven inland vessels for car transport on the Rhine and Danube.

BLG sees automobile growth markets in Eastern Europe, among other places. It is already present in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 2011 it established the FESCO BLG AUTOMOBILE LOGISTICS RUSSIA joint venture with the FESCO Transportation Group. Together the partners want to develop into one of the leading automobile logistics providers in Russia. One of the aims is integration of the Trans-Siberian Railway into the transcontinental transportation network. Then vehicles of Asian make can be loaded onto the railway in Vladivostok and distributed westward to the bordering countries overland.

New orders for contract logistics:
In the Contract Logistics segment BLG was able to acquire large-scale new orders in the fields of car parts, retail trade and wind energy logistics. At the end of April the company received an order from BMW for packing 1.4 million cubic meters of car parts a year in Wackersdorf and sending them to various overseas assembly lines in future. Around 500 employees will be involved in this work. Since spring 2011 about 160 employees have been supplying Volkswagen’s worldwide assembly lines with vehicle parts and components via Bremen. In Brotterode, Thuringia BLG took over responsibility for plant logistics for automotive supplier Automotive Lighting, also with 160 employees. Volkswagen awarded BLG a new order of the same magnitude in Brazil. The volume in the US was expanded through new business with Mercedes.

A large order for retail trade logistics relates to Tchibo business. In 2014 BLG will take over the online-business as well as the retours. This means 200 new employees and will double the business for Tchibo. Over 50 million Euros will be invested in expansion of the high-bay warehouse for this purpose.

Areas at the Bremerhaven Auto Terminal have been refurbished for handling and storage of super-heavy foundation elements for offshore facilities. BLG takes the so-called tripods from the manufacturer, Weserwind, in Fischereihafen to the automobile terminal using the new special pontoon, OFFSHORE BHV I, and stores them there until they are loaded onto the installation vessels. This is regarded as an interim solution until completion of the planned offshore terminal in Bremerhaven, for whose operation BLG has submitted an application.

Container handling grew to 13.3 million TEU:
The EUROGATE joint venture develops the Container Logistics segment. Thanks to strong growth in Bremerhaven of 21 percent to 5.9 million TEU, the total cargo handling volume in the European terminal network grew by 5.2 percent to 13.3 million TEU.

EUROGATE operates – in some cases with partners – ten container terminals in Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Gioia Tauro, La Spezia, Salerno, Cagliari, Ravenna, Lisbon, Tangier and, since the end of 2011, in Ust Luga, too. Furthermore, EUROGATE holds a share in several inland terminals and railway enterprises.

For the current financial year Aden paints an optimistic picture: “Within the framework of our dual strategy we will tap new markets and win over further customers. In 2012 we expect sales of about 1.1 billion euros and earnings before taxes significantly in excess of 40 million euros.” The forecast economic downswing has not made itself felt thus far at BLG.

BLG’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board Josef Hattig will step down from office as of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on May 31. Dr. Klaus Meier, lawyer and managing partner of wpd Windmanager GmbH & Co. KG, will be proposed to the shareholders in the election of a substitute until the end of the running period. In 2013 Detthold Aden as well as his colleagues on the Board of Management Manfred Kuhr and Hillert Onnen will retire. A selection panel of the Supervisory Board is currently dealing with the matter.

Press Contact:
Hartmut Schwerdtfeger

BLG LOGISTICS GROUP
AG & Co. KG
PO Box 28 61 53
28361 Bremen
Germany

Phone: +49 421 398 3391
Fax: +49 421 398 3404
E-Mail: hschwerdtfeger@blg.de

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