Hubert Valder and Frank Huster (from left to right) © DSLV

After 32 years of service, the DSLV Federal Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics bid farewell to its Deputy Managing Director and Head of the Legal Department Hubert Valder on May 16, 2019 at the Hamburg State Representation in Berlin.

Valder, a lawyer, joined the then Bonn office of the federal association as legal advisor in 1987. In this role, he was responsible for all matters relating to national and international freight forwarding, warehousing and freight law, including all insurance issues relevant to freight forwarders and logistics service providers.

His many years of work were characterized by the comprehensive reform of transport law in 1998 and the recurring rounds of negotiations on the German Freight Forwarders' Standard Terms and Conditions (ADSp) with the associations of the shipping industry and trade. The ADSp are used by almost all logistics players and are now recognized by eight federal associations as a common set of clauses and contractual basis for the forwarding business throughout Germany.

"We would like to thank Hubert Valder for his many years of commitment and his services to the freight forwarding industry and the federal association," says Axel Plaß, President of the DSLV. "His work was decisive for the legal protection of our entire industry and was characterized by a high level of professional expertise and foresight."

In addition to his role in the DSLV, Valder, now sixty years old and from the Rhineland, was Managing Director of the Federal Association's socio-political working group from 1989 to 1998 and Managing Director of the association's own business organization from 2000 to 2012. In 2013, the DSLV Executive Committee appointed him Deputy Managing Director. As Head of Forwarding and Transport Law, lawyer Björn Karaus (45) has taken over Valder's specialist role at the DSLV.