Press Release

Rhenus Celebrates Centenary with a Partnership Forum in Frankfurt, the Place Where It All Started

The Rhenus Group welcomed 150 guests to its Partnership Forum in Frankfurt/Main on 13 November 2012. Rhenus customers, guests from the worlds of logistics and the media and representatives from companies discussed the question of partnership and its importance in the business world and society in the city where the company was initially based – and on the anniversary of the company’s founding. The main speakers included the business expert, Hermann Scherer, and the best-selling author, Maren Lehky.

Hermann Scherer, the keynote speaker, introduced various issues that are essential when developing partnerships in his motivational speech entitled “Viewing opportunities – reshaping cooperation in future through recognising and seizing opportunities”. Hermann Scherer, who regularly lectures at universities, is a popular author and speaker on this topic.


Maren Lehky focused on one particular aspect of partnership, the relationship between employer and employee, during her speech. The author of ten books on this subject gave a speech entitled “Partnership in human resources – what is the significance of loyalty today?”


Panel discussions chaired by Prof. Dr. Michael Ten Hompel from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics provided the framework for the two speeches. The debate focused on “partnerships in logistics and society”. The panel not only included Klemens Rethmann, the Rhenus CEO, and Hermann Scherer, but also Rainer Bürkert, the Managing Director of Würth Industrieservice, Dr. Wolfgang Cieslik, the Managing Director of STEAG, Dr. Cornelius Patt, the CEO at Zooplus, and Dr. Heinrich Reidelbach, the former Purchasing Manager at Daimler.


The Partnership Forum was held to mark the actual date on which Rhenus was founded. Badische Actiengesellschaft für Rheinschiffahrt und Seetransport and Rheinschiffahrts Actiengesellschaft founded Rhenus Transport-Gesellschaft m.b.H. with its headquarters in Frankfurt on 13 November 1912.

About Rhenus

The Rhenus Group provides logistics services around the globe and has annual turnover amounting to EUR 3.3 billion. Rhenus employs over 19,000 people at more than 350 locations worldwide. The Rhenus business areas – Contract Logistics, Freight Logistics and Port Logistics – manage complex supply chains and provide a wealth of innovative value-added Services.