Although the year was once again characterized by the coronavirus pandemic and difficult market conditions such as the lack of parts availability, CEO Frank Dreeke sums up with satisfaction: "We significantly improved our result in the 2021 financial year and exceeded expectations. We overcame the challenges together. With our almost 12,000 employees, we were able to keep our customer base stable and even expand it in some business areas." After a pre-tax loss of EUR -116.1 million in 2020, BLG Logistics reported earnings before taxes (EBT) of EUR 52.2 million for the 2021 financial year.* The company's equity ratio is now 12.8% (previous year: 5%), partly due to the good result. At just under 1.1 billion euros, turnover is almost at the previous year's level (-1.4%).

*The capital increase by the City of Bremen in the amount of EUR 53 million to offset the corona-related losses in 2020 flowed directly into the capital reserve and is therefore not part of the income statement.

Due to the difficult situation in the industry, the Automotive division remained well below plan with earnings before taxes of -1.1 million euros. The result was affected not only by the decline in production by car manufacturers due to a lack of parts, but also by high costs resulting from the implementation of coronavirus regulations.

The High & Heavy segment benefited from the global shortage of containers and the increased transportation of goods on RoRo ships. The port of Neustadt also performed well, handling 1.3 million tons in a highly competitive environment.

In addition to the joint venture with Hyundai Glovis, successes in the division included the expansion of the business in Dodendorf and Kelheim.

Good developments in the contract sector

Earnings before taxes in the Contract division amounted to EUR 8.7 million and were therefore significantly higher than the negative result in 2020 (just under EUR -14 million). While the lack of parts availability was also reflected in the industrial logistics locations where BLG works for the automotive industry, the picture in retail logistics was very positive.
Consumer goods and eCommerce services were in high demand. Business in the USA, South Africa and India developed well thanks to additional new business and is slightly above plan. The forwarding activities were sold in the first quarter of 2021, with the exception of the Bremen location.
New locations were opened for PUMA and a customer from the food retail sector, services for customers such as Siemens Energy were expanded and the foundation stone was laid for the sustainable logistics center "C3 Bremen". Overall, almost all contracts with customers were extended and new customers were acquired.

Container benefits

The Container Division of the BLG Group is represented by half of the shares in Eurogate. The investment result rose from EUR -60.7 million to EUR 61.8 million. Overall, 13.1 % more containers were handled, which is attributable to strong growth due to catch-up effects, but also to the commissioning of a second terminal in Tangier. Significant distortions in the schedules led to increased operating costs on the one hand and to unplanned high additional income, including storage fees, on the other.

The Wilhelmshaven site, which has clearly positive development prospects thanks to the planned entry of Hapag-Lloyd and the automation projects, also benefited from the changed market conditions.

The "Future Eurogate" transformation program progressed according to plan. In the eight months in which the first implementations of the transformation process were realized, a double-digit million euro amount has already been saved.

Climate protection and digitalization also remained on BLG's agenda in 2021. The company invested around 14.6 million euros in seven joint projects to develop new solutions with the help of artificial intelligence. BLG Logistics received various awards in the area of climate protection.

BLG CEO Frank Dreeke forecasts a high level of uncertainty for the 2022 financial year, with the situation in Eastern Europe, among other things, shaping the global economic situation. "The war has once again significantly disrupted our customers' supply chains and production. We are already feeling the effects of a lack of intermediate goods and further turbulence in global supply chains. Energy prices, which were already at a high level, are also rising sharply." Nevertheless, Dreeke is optimistic that BLG will be able to cope with these difficult conditions thanks to its broad positioning.