Zeitfracht Gruppe

1927

Horst Walter Schröter was born on 2 May 1927 in Stendal in the Altmark region. In the same year, his father, master butcher Walter Schröter, founds a haulage business to offer a feed trade for the region. The young Horst Walter grows up among the trucks and buses of the rapidly developing haulage company. A time full of formative experiences.

1939

With the start of the Second World War, it's all over: on 1 August, the Schröters' entire fleet of vehicles is requisitioned for the war effort.

1945

After the end of the war, a new beginning begins. The Schröters assemble new motor vehicles and buses from trucks destroyed in the war, the remains of which were found on the banks of the Elbe. According to the motto: "Make one out of four", 17 vehicles are built in this way. The haulage business begins to roll again and from 1949 a regular service between Berlin and Stendal is established in the newly founded GDR.

1951

The GDR expropriates the Schröter haulage company. The reason: during a state inspection, 312 litres of diesel were found to be too much in the Schröter fleet. A difference to the official data for which Walter Schröter is sent to prison. In Stendal, Horst Walter Schröter no longer sees any prospects. He flees to the American sector in West Berlin. On the night of December 12, he breaks through the border checkpoint at Glienicke Bridge with a friend and two trucks. His wife and daughter follow him a short time later.

1952

Having arrived in West Berlin, 24-year-old Horst Walter Schröter and his wife dare to make a fresh start. At a time when car yards - the birthplaces of long-distance transport - are springing up like mushrooms in West Germany, they become one of the main hubs for the distribution of long-distance transport orders.

1955

The Schröter haulage company grows with the variety of products to be transported. Horst Walter Schröter knows that he must leave the enclave of West Berlin if his company is to grow any further. Schröter now focuses on long-distance transport. The breakthrough comes with an order from the German company Nativ AG: empty gas cylinders for trucks with fuel gas drive are to be collected, filled in Kassel and delivered back to the filling stations in the greater Hanover area. Since then, growth-oriented post-war Germany has brought him one order after another.

1960

The Schröter haulage company is on course for expansion and begins to buy up other haulage companies from the 1960s onwards. Horst Walter Schröter's reputation in the industry grows.

1962

Zeitfracht was founded in 1962. The starting point is the order to transport newspapers and magazines from West Germany to West Berlin. This marks the beginning of the group of companies.

1970

The Zeitfracht swing is introduced as a sign of change. The transition from Spedition Schröter to Zeitfracht is more than just a name change: the name stands for the idea of tying transport to guaranteed time windows. The motto "Just in Time" is born.

1972

Horst Walter Schröter has the idea of a private parcel service. Particularly in the area of small consignments, there is an increasing desire to have them transported by forwarders rather than by the post office.

1976

Four years later, the parcel service idea becomes reality. 18 independent companies form a cooperative association and divide up the federal territory according to postal codes. The agreement also includes territorial protection as well as a territorial obligation. Together they guarantee that every parcel between 2.5 and 20 kilograms handed over to them will be delivered to its destination within 48 hours at the latest. The community is run by an independent company with its own management. On 1 April, the first private German parcel service, DPD, thus begins its work.

1979

Schröter significantly advances a new development in freight forwarding: the swap body. This invention makes it possible to change the box to be loaded like a container. This gives the customer more time for loading. Downtimes are minimized. To this day, these swap bodies are at the heart of the logistics system and are correspondingly standardised and barcode-capable.

1991

In 1989 the Wall fell. After German reunification in 1990, Horst Walter Schröter returned to his home town of Stendal. His father's haulage company, which had been expropriated more than 35 years before, is now VEB Kraftverkehr Stendal, Haldensleben. In 1991 he buys the company back from the Treuhand.

2000

The French Post becomes DPD's major shareholder with 83.32 percent. The British Royal Mail acquires Dachser's 10.47 percent share. Of the founding members, only Zeitfracht still holds the remaining 6.21 percent at this point.

2015

Dr. Wolfram Simon-Schröter takes over as CEO of Zeitfracht. In addition, the group of companies takes over 49 percent of the shares of HVT, Haus- und Versorgungstechnik Potsdam.

2016

The Zeitfracht Group sells its last founding shares in DPD to the French postal company La Poste. At the same time, the company expands its logistics division and acquires Döpke Transportlogistik.

2017

The expansion of the logistics division of the Zeitfracht Group continues with the acquisition of TLM Transport & Logistik. In addition, the group of companies enters the new business field of aviation with the acquisition of WDL-Aviation. HVT is also now fully integrated into the Zeitfracht Group.

2018

SPESA Spedition is acquired from insolvency and continues to operate as SPESA Zeitfracht Logistik. In addition, Zeitfracht Logistik expands its range of activities with the addition of road feeder services. In August, the Zeitfracht Group takes over OPUS Marine with eight special ships. From August, WDL Aviation flies cargo flights with BAe 146-300QT freighters.

2019

WDL Aviation expands its fleet and acquires its first Embraer E190 in March.

2019

Zeitfracht will acquire LGW (Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter) from Lufthansa on 01.04.2019. The fleet includes 17 Dash8 Q400 aircraft.

2019

Zeitfracht acquires Germany's largest book logistics company and book wholesaler Koch, Neff und Volckmar (KNV) on 1 August. All 1,600 employees at the three locations in Erfurt, Leipzig and Stuttgart are taken over.

2019

The company's aviation activities are spun off from the Group under a new brand and henceforth managed independently as German Airways. The two airlines WDL Aviation and LGW will continue to operate as legally and economically independent companies.

2020

LGW has to file for insolvency in self-administration. During the Corona pandemic, air traffic also collapsed due to massive travel restrictions. As a result, LGW's exclusive partner terminated the long-term wet lease contract.

2020

coconad GmbH, a creative agency with a focus on the areas of communication, content and advertisement, is now part of the Zeitfracht Group. As an expert in the field of e-commerce and online marketing, coconad GmbH advises and supports its customers, among other things, in the conception of web projects and the implementation of individual webshop solutions.

2020

The full-service provider First Wise, a third-generation family business, becomes part of the Zeitfracht Group. As an intermediary between industry and trade, this supplies more than 1,800 online and retail dealers across Europe with electronic products from over 30 brand manufacturers. This also includes the computer and video game accessories of the renowned own brand Speedlink. In addition to complete fulfilment, First Wise Zeitfracht offers its customers a wide range of services, from POS solutions to marketing and services.

2021

Zeitfracht acquires a stake in the publishing and media stock corporation VEMAG. The Cologne-based publishing group employs 180 people at four locations and manages the logistics of several million books per year with the help of its Bergheim high-bay warehouse.

2021

Zeitfracht becomes majority shareholder in BuchPartner. The full-service provider for books and media, with its own logistics centre in Darmstadt, manages and supports professional book departments in the retail trade and offers customised space concepts and book ranges for this purpose.

2021

Die Zeitfracht Logistik Holding GmbH platziert zum 5. Mai erfolgreich eine Anleihe im Handel des Freiverkehrs der Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse. Die Debütemission, deren endgültiger Zinssatz auf 5,00 Prozent p.a. festgelegt wurde, hat ein Volumen von 25 Millionen Euro und eine Laufzeit von 5 Jahren. Die Emittentin ist Teil der Zeitfracht-Unternehmensgruppe und bildet mit ihren Tochtergesellschaften den Teilkonzern Logistik. Sie ist in Deutschland ein führender Anbieter im Bereich der System- und Medienlogistik sowie der Logistik für Elektronikprodukte.

2021

Der Deutsche Kinderbuchpreis wird von Jasmin Schröter, Eigentümerin der Zeitfracht Gruppe, ins Leben gerufen. Der mit 100.000 Euro dotierte Preis wird am 2. Oktober zum ersten Mal verliehen und soll das Thema Kinderbuch noch stärker in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung verankern. Ausgezeichnet werden Kinderbücher, die sich an die Altersgruppe zwischen vier und acht Jahren richten. Der Auswahlprozess umfasst sowohl eine Erwachsenenjury als auch eine Kinderjury, welche sich aus jeweils zwei Kindern aus jedem deutschen Bundesland zusammensetzt. Der Deutsche Kinderbuchpreis wird von Jasmin Schröter fortan jedes Jahr gestiftet.

www.deutscher-kinderbuchpreis.com