The FIEGE Group
from 1873 until today.

Joan Joseph Fiege founded a carriage trade in Greven/Westphalia (Germany) in 1873, the transport activities for which were carried out with a horse-drawn cart. The transportation was a genuine sideline for the farmer, who mainly took coal to his customers or ran other errands. Commissions by Greven-based retailers as well as aspiring industrial firms were added at a later point in time.

With the purchase of the first commercial truck in 1924, a new era commenced for the company. Josef Fiege jun., the father of today's owners, asserted his decision for what at the time was a revolutionary purchase, against the initial scepticism of his father, thus ringing in the second decisive development stage for the company.
The use of the truck led to an increase in the loading capacity for the individual transports and the resulting greater radius of operations seemed for those days almost unlimited. In 1928, the company was awarded its first long-distance transport contracts. The emerging locational issues meant that an expansion of the business at the original family property in Greven-Wentrup was inevitable.
Around four years later, Josef Fiege jun. directly took control of the long-distance transport business, which was thus detached from the forwarding business. At the same time, the repair workshop including accessories and warehouse was passed to the son.

The difficult years of World War II demanded major entrepreneurial skills to guide the company safely through the confusion and particular demands of the times. Josef Fiege jun. could not prevent the forwarding business from having to carry out "strategic"assignments, including also the relocation of Wehrmacht commands. The company was awarded many transport missions, for example during the relocation of the Münster University Clinics to Bad Oeynhausen and Bad Salzuflen.
But even the end of the War gave rise to difficulties for the company: The company's grounds were seized for several months by British occupational forces, as were the workshop and the office. But Josef Fiege successfully mastered all complications in the organisational and business field and rebuilt the company after the War had ended. The need for heavy-duty transport vehicles was very high at that time, accelerating the expansion of the enterprise.
By the time the DM balance was submitted in 1948, the number of commercial vehicles had already grown to 41. Once again, the family property had become too small for the continued expansion of the business. In 1950, Josef Fiege purchased further land around the original family property, thus enlarging the company grounds in Greven-Wentrup to 28,000 square metres. The number of owned commercial trucks also grew constantly.

After the sons Heinz Fiege and Dr. Hugo Fiege joined the company in 1967 and 1973 respectively, the entrepreneurial concept shifted from its "transport"and secondary "forwarding"focus, to "forwarding"and "transport".
In 1970 the Hamburg, Frankfurt/Main and Berlin branches were opened. With the help of these branches and the already existing Bremen branch, international transport services became available. At the same time road transports to neighbouring European countries started to evolve.

The company's final breakthrough and expansion followed the firm's relocation to Greven-Reckenfeld. The head office and the administration were established on a 100,000 square metres-large compound at the local business park. The hexagonal goods distribution centre is known beyond the region by now. The company concept of the Fiege brothers changed from "forwarding and transport"to "forwarding and logistics". Following the take-over of the international forwarder Klein-Wiele in Bocholt (DE), the number of employees at Fiege rose to over 1,000. Two years later, the forwarder Wilken, headquartered in Berlin and Munich, was taken over by the Fiege Group, allowing Germany's south to be better served than before. In 1988, branded logistics were followed by industrial goods logistics.
FGT, Fiege Gerresheimer Transportgesellschaft, is an outstanding example of this logistical segment for Europe's largest European hollow glass manufacturer. FGT, with eleven branches and a managed warehouse area of 250,000 square metres, operated here also in pursuit of the best-possible ecological aspects. Even the fragile glass goods were delivered without packaging.
After adding beverage logistics to the diverse product range of the services concepts in 1990, the Fiege Group became one of the largest distributors of wine. 16 major German wine importers are united as customers under a single roof. With Fiege EBL Getränkelogistik (European Beverage Logistics), a renewed shift of the corporate structure was once again introduced: logistics over forwarding.

Department store logistics for Karstadt AG are one example of a further branch of logistical services. In 1992, after a roughly ten-month construction period, integrated supply chain services were taken up at the goods services centre, the Warendienstleistungszentrum (WDZ) Ibbenbüren/Osnabrück on around 135,000 square metres of quality warehouse space. The WDZ Ibbenbüren/Osnabrück is the first privately-built and commercially-used services centre in Europe. The successful combination of economy and ecology helped to coin the word "Eco-Logistics"by Fiege. The WDZ and consequently also the entire company concept were honoured in 1992 with the Ger- man Logistics Award, extended by Bundesvereinigung Logistik e.V., Germany's logistics association.
One example of an interesting industry solution is the performance of supply chain services for Apollinaris & Schweppes, for which a new Fiege branch was established at the production site in Bad Neuenahr/Ahrweiler, whose two regional warehouses systemize the transports throughout the whole of Germany, partly moving them from land roads to rail roads.
Over the past years, the Fiege Group has become highly involved in the idea of environmental protection. The stance of the two owners of the company led to the broad implementation of this philosophy, which aims at protecting the environment and resources for all existing and new projects.

Uniting the future and the past in a single building was achieved superbly following the construction of the new system head office at Münster-Osnabrück airport. On September 13, 1999 the roughly 150 employees of Fiege's System Headquarters moved into the building.
"The new home stands for the beginning of a new era, for success and internationality of our company, it is a commitment towards the region and a commitment towards the future", is how Dr. Fiege expressed his hopes that here, at the new location and in the immediate vicinity to FMO airport, the head office of the Fiege Group had found its perfect seat. After all, this is where the company's future and past are harmoniously united in a building, an important aspect for the tradition-minded owners of the Fiege Group.

Heinz and Hugo Fiege are honoured as Entrepreneurs of the Year 2007. The award, called to life by the logistics journal DVZ Deutsche Logistik-Zeitung, pays tribute to entrepreneurs who, as a leading figure in the transport and logistics business have the courage to expand and to enter new markets, while being aware of their responsibility as an employer, as well as the need to protect the environment and the climate.

Restructuring from a generalist, regional organisation to a specialised, vertical structure through decentralised Business Units. Subsequent actions concentrating on the strategic orientation are to strengthen Fiege as a leading European omni-channel fulfilment provider. Restructuring is an essential element for an owner-managed business in actively shaping the future market in which predominantly listed companies compete.

Formation of a joint venture with Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. The joint venture by the name of Fiege X Log handles Karstadt's entire logistics starting 2020 and will also provide its expertise and services to other businesses in the market in future. Together, Fiege and Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof devised a new logistics structure. Measures that have already been implemented during modernisation – such as a functional separation at the stores into categories such as logistics, check-out and sales – are key premises for this.

New additions to the Fiege Executive Board. Martin Rademaker and Dr. Stefan Thies join the managing body which is also composed of Alfred Messink and Peter Scherbel. Jens Fiege and Felix Fiege will chair the Fiege Executive Board, now composed of a total six members. These new additions to the Executive Board ensure that Fiege can respond swiftly and efficiently within its core business segments to the constantly changing needs of its clients with ever-new supply chain solutions.