VTL will continue to focus on cooperation as the key to success

The general cargo cooperative VTL Vernetzte-Transport-Logistik can now look back on 20 successful years. Now the Cargo Family is laying the foundation for a promising future – and setting the course for a merger with the general cargo cooperations ILN and S.T.a.R. At the beginning of 2019, the new network should then take off in full.

“Since we were established in 1998, we have constantly developed – from initially 40 partners in Germany, a Europe-wide network with currently over 130 medium-sized cargo companies has grown over the last two decades,” says VTL Managing Director Andreas Jäschke. The Cargo Family has also seen huge growth in turnover and handling since the late 1990s, with sales rising from DM 3.4 million to 65 million Euro (2017). The volume of cargo handled in Fulda grew, and was initially handled by 12 and is now today by 115 loading bays. “With the upcoming merger, we are rewarding ourselves as it were on our 20th anniversary and we are taking a very important step into the next stage of development,” says Jäschke.

It is planned that VTL, ILN and S.T.a.R. will combine not only the activities of the system headquarters, but also their operational networks. A leading general cargo network is then to be created from this by mid-2019. Until then, the various working groups still have a lot of work to do. It is essential to lay the appropriate foundations in the areas of law, finance, operations, IT, communications, human resources, property and quality management, among other things. What is already certain is that VTL, ILN and S.T.a.R. will have equal shares in the new company. The location of the new system headquarters has not yet been decided and the staff will continue to work at the locations of their respective system headquarters. The three partners expect positive synergy effects in all areas of network management.

For the local system partners, however, nothing will change for the time being. Everyone should benefit,” emphasises Jäschke. And any negotiated conditions and regulations will of course remain in place. The biggest plus is the greater network security and stability, which will benefit everyone. “Each system partner must decide for themselves whether they want to go on this path with us, says the VTL managing director. He is convinced that the Cargo Family alone has little chance of survival in the long term without the merger with ILN and S.T.a.R.. After the merger, however, the new network will have over 300 system partners in Germany alone. “If everything goes to plan, we can be in the top league of the top 10 general cargo networks in Germany,” says Jäschke.