Gottfried Schenker (14 February 1842 in Däniken,

Canton of Solothurn The canton of Solothurn or canton of Soleure (; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn. History The village of ''Salodurum'' was founded in the time of t ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

– 26 November 1901 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) was the founder of

Schenker AG Schenker AG (trading as DB Schenker) is a subsidiary of Danish logistics company DSV. The company was previously owned by German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, which acquired the subsidiary back in 2002. It comprises divisions for air, land, sea fr ...

Vienna

At the age of 30, Schenker together with two partners founded the freight forwarding company Schenker & Co on 1 July 1872 in

. The managerial ingenuity of the Swiss-born entrepreneur was the introduction of

groupage Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers, or ISO containers). Containerization, also referred as container stuffing or container loading, is the process of uni ...

consignments by train. The idea to consolidate small shipments into larger units led to a completely new, reasonably priced and fast transport system by rail, road, sea, and inland waterways. The network of branches was expanding rapidly. At the end of the 19th century, Schenker already was the only enterprise offering tariffs calculated through from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. His successful approach—"house to house transport with one single forwarder"—soon made him market leader, as he was able to meet the requirements of his customers better and faster than all the competitors. The company has maintained this approach until today. A present-day historian wrote about Gottfried Schenker, who died in 1901, "He was one of the great economic pioneers of the 19th century and became renowned far outside the borders of the

Austro-Hungarian empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

Expansion

At the turn of the century, Vienna was a metropolis in a country at the heart of Europe, where ten languages were being used actively. Starting from Vienna, the company opened up markets within and without the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In rapid succession, Gottfried Schenker founded branches in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

Salonika Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, and

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

. At that time, the distribution within the cities and individual regions was still carried out by horse-drawn

coaches Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. Impressive warehouses, like the one in

, acted as trade hubs.

Consignment Consignment is a process whereby a person gives permission to another party to take care of their property while retaining full ownership of the property until the item is sold to the final buyer. It is generally done during auctions, shipping, ...

s for longer distances were transported by rail. However, groupage transports across the entire continent or the transport of bulk cargo also required transport by sea. Anticipating further developments, Gottfried Schenker acquired interests in shipping lines. Starting from Trieste, he organized transports across 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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, to

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, the

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Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and the UK, as well as to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The company's ships with his own name, "Gottfried Schenker" and that of his wife, "Betty", were crossing the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

Telegraphy

In 1913 the first branch office outside Europe was founded in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. At the same time the company also consistently exploited the possibilities modern technology was offering, by combining forwarding with the emerging methods of

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

. Just when the new transport routes to America were being opened up, the company acquired interests in well known

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

companies which, for the first time, connected Europe and America by communication cables. Gottfried Schenker created the foundation for a future-oriented network of transport means, the utilization of

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

and the company's global presence. For 136 years Schenker's success has been based on these principles.

References

1842 births 1901 deaths Businesspeople from Austria-Hungary Swiss businesspeople {{Switzerland-business-bio-stub

Vienna

Expansion

Telegraphy

See also

References