Service provider celebrates 50th anniversary

Marco Molitor, Member of the Executive Board dbh Logistics IT

Bremen-based IT specialist dbh Logistics IT was founded in 1973 and played a pioneering role in the digitalization of port logistics.

Globalization, digitalization, efficiency: these three key terms have had a decisive influence on the development of dbh Logistics IT for 50 years now. The IT specialist, headquartered in Bremen, will celebrate its anniversary in 2023. Starting out as a small company with ten employees, the company has played a pioneering role since it was founded in 1973: "In principle, we were already working on digitalization while others weren't even thinking about it," explains CEO Marco Molitor. "What's more, we have steadily expanded our portfolio over the decades. While dbh Logistics started out as a pure provider of digital port solutions, we are now active as a service provider in a wide range of sectors such as logistics, trade and industry. And we are proud of that."

From Bremen to the world
The success story of dbh Logistics IT began in 1973, at that time still under the name Datenbank Bremische Häfen GmbH & Co KG. The dbh data center was launched in 1977. In the same year, Compass was introduced, the world's first digital port community system, replaced in 1995 by Bremer Hafentelematik (BHT) as the new central system. The 1980s and 90s were characterized by innovation and expansion: after developing its own forwarding software, the company entered the market as a customs software provider in 1999. "Our first customers came from the port industry, but we quickly realized that our tailor-made solutions could be used in many more areas such as logistics, trade and industry," explains Molitor. "We wanted to get out of the ports and into the world."

In 2003, the company took over the Atlas provider Logas, followed by the change of name to dbh Logistics IT AG in 2006. Another milestone followed in 2008, when the IT pioneers began developing the first SAP solutions for customs processing. In 2012, the acquisition of Cargo Online marked the strategic entry into the freight forwarding software market. In 2016, another cornerstone of the company was added: as a provider of cloud hosting solutions. In recent years, the company's focus has been on modernization. "Our goal is to be able to offer innovative freight forwarding software with our Fiduz product by the end of 2024 that manages all of a freight forwarder's operational needs," says Molitor.