Visionary company founder honored posthumously in Vienna
Berlin/Essen/Vienna - Gottfried Schenker, founder of the same named logistics services company, was posthumously inducted into the Logistik Hall of Fame during a ceremony attended by numerous customers yesterday in Vienna. Anita Würmser, the chairperson of the jury, presented the coveted award to Dr. Hansjörg Rodi, Chairman of the Board of Management of Schenker Deutschland AG, Frankfurt am Main, and Mag. Elmar Wieland, Chairman of the Board of Management of Schenker & Co. AG, Vienna.
In her statement explaining the independent jury’s decision, Anita Würmser said that “Gottfried Schenker’s entrepreneurial talent and creative vision laid the foundation for consolidated transport thereby making it possible for the logistics sector to make significant advances”. Persons inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame have made extraordinary contributions toward the further development of logistics and supply chain management. The Logistik Hall of Fame was founded in 2003 and is supported by numerous industry associations and organizations, including the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs.
The Swiss-born Schenker saw that there were great opportunities in East-West transport at the beginning of the railway era and moved to Vienna where he founded his freight forwarding company in 1872. He had the idea of consolidating small shipments together into larger shipping units and to transport them over longer distances via various modes of transport. In 1873 he launched the first consolidated shipment service via rail between Paris and Vienna. Products shipped included Champagne, Cognac, Bordeaux wines, fashionable clothing and other luxury goods for Viennese society. While the main routes were primarily rail-based, his service also used horse-drawn carriages to pick up and deliver merchandise. At the end of the 19th century Schenker was one of the first to offer end-to-end calculated shipping rates from London to Istanbul. His company’s slogan “From house to house in the same hands” proved to be a success as his network of locations grew rapidly. Schenker’s first branch office was opened in Budapest in 1874 and was followed by new offices in Prague, Belgrade and Istanbul. During his lifetime Gottfried Schenker founded 32 branch offices in 13 European countries. Today, DB Schenker is part of the Deutsche Bahn Group and employs 91,000 staff in about 2,000 locations to offer customers transportation and logistics services around the world. His idea of consolidated rail freight transport, for which he was honored in the Hall of Fame, has been successfully continued and cultivated by DB Schenker, successfully.
Gottfried Schenker died on November 26, 1901 in Vienna, where he was buried at the Heiligenstädter Cemetery.
Issued by: Deutsche Bahn AG
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