100 years Biesterfeld: From salt dealing to international distribution
1906 - 1926: Setting out into the future
1927 - 1946: A silver lining in days of darkness
1947 - 1966: The days of fresh start and expansion
1967 - 1976: New generations enter the global market
1977 - 1986: Time for restructuring
1987 - 1996: Time for new connections and realignment
1997 - 2006: With clear structures into the new millennium
1906 - 1926
Setting out into the future
It certainly takes courage and a sound commercial sense of markets, opportunities and products to lay the foundations for an international enterprise in the early years of the 20th century.
And Wilhelm Ernst Hinrich Biesterfeld, an experienced wholesaler and import/export trader, certainly has courage.
He acquires the sound sense through flexibility and persistence when on June 6, 1906, at the age of 26, he registers the firm of W. Biesterfeld & Co. in Hamburg. He moves into his first small office on the “Grimm” in the old quarter of Hamburg.
Until 1918, North German rock salt for the domestic and Scandinavian markets is the basis for a flourishing salt business. Then, the North German rock salt producers merge to form a syndicate, and Wilhelm Biesterfeld reacts by switching to sales of evaporated salt. In 1922 this successful business gives rise to the foundation of Biesterfeld Salzhandelsgesellschaft.
By the time the producers of evaporated salt also form a syndicate in 1930, the importance of W. Biesterfeld & Co. has grown so much that the company is entrusted with exclusive sales to certain areas of North and East Germany.
Alongside this operation, W. Biesterfeld & Co. engages in the sale of chemicals and fertilizers in one of the most promising growth markets of the time. How vital it is to have more than one main pillar to stand on becomes apparent when the company has to cope with setbacks. In 1925 the luckless excursion into shipping ends with the winding up of Wilhelm Biesterfeld’s shipping line.
A grave step for the company and its 80 employees. But at least it means that eight jobs are saved, and with them the future of W. Biesterfeld & Co.
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1927 - 1946
A silver lining in days of darkness
The 1930s are marked by reconstruction and by the expansion of Biesterfeld’s three main pillars: salt, chemicals and fertilizer trading. Biesterfeld sets up branches in Berlin, Halle, Wroclaw and Vienna. The Hamburg headquarters also grows. All activities are moved into new and larger offices in the Sloman building on Steinhöft.
Walter Hartmann, nephew and later adopted son of the childless founding father, joins the company in 1930.
He is quick to recognize the great importance of chemical trade with storage facilities as agent between the chemical industry and converters. The acquisition of the old established chemical works Gunter, Schröder & Co. in Hamburg-Harburg in 1945 paves the way for the establishment of a supra-regional chemicals distribution network with its own storage and transhipment facilities.
After the Second World War, thanks to the untiring enterprise of Wilhelm and Walter Biesterfeld and the dedication of every single employee, the company once again finds itself looking forward to a great future. The loss of the eastern markets and the destruction of the Hamburg head office cannot prevent it from reactivating the good business relations of pre-war days at home and abroad. Within short the company is revived to become a new and powerful force in the salt, chemicals and fertilizer trade.
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1947 - 1966
The days of fresh start and expansion
Increasingly, the Biesterfeld Group is becoming the competence partner of choice for its customers. The extensive specialist knowledge of its staff ensures high standards of advice and steps up sales. The result: more facilities and offices open in Berlin, Augsburg, Frankfurt/Main, Hanover and Cologne. In parallel with the distribution business, imports of chemicals also grow.
The company’s own development and processing activities become an important pillar of the business.
Offices and storage buildings for salt and fertilizers are built at Hamburg-Mühlenhagen.
New offices are constructed at Gunter, Schröder & Co., along with storage and transhipment facilities and units for solvent distillation and acid treatment.
Between 1950 and 1960 the basis for the rapid growth is broadened considerably. Dedicated branch offices in the business fields of chemical imports and exports, for salt and fertilizers, and chemical plants are established and provide the basis for nationwide sales. Thanks to tried and tested international contacts, this period also sees the start of imports of plastics from West European manufacturers.
The business continues to grow. Space in the Sloman building becomes scarce. So Wilhelm Biesterfeld acquires a site at Ferdinandstrasse 41 in Hamburg’s city centre. Since 1956 this complex, extended several times, has been home to the company’s headquarters.
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1967 - 1976
New generations enter the global market
In 1964 the group consists of more than 20 individual companies with a total of around 600 employees. The same year sees the death of the company’s founder Wilhelm Biesterfeld at the age of 84.
With his great commercial know-how and international experience, Walter Biesterfeld ensures the group’s ongoing growth. In the following six years he continues to expand the business and turns it into one of the leading chemical distribution companies.
After the death of Walter Biesterfeld in 1970, his son, Dirk J. Biesterfeld takes over the family business as General Partner in 1970 and develops it into an internationally operating group.
Between 1960 and 1980 the chemical distribution network is expanded both within Germany and beyond its borders. The first European branch is set up in 1961 at Alphen a/d Rijn in the Netherlands.
Worldwide competition in the export trade is growing more intense. This makes it all the more important to be represented in the most promising local markets. The group succeeds in gaining a foothold on the American continent. Interesting new markets are added with the Brazilian branch in 1976 and the formation of Biesterfeld US.
The growing business in plastics develops into an important pillar of the entire enterprise. Significant factors here are the group’s international contacts and the competent advice provided by highly qualified staff.
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1977 - 1986
Time for restructuring
Early the Biesterfeld Group built up wide-ranging capacities in the field of product and applications technology advice . This made it possible for the company to develop successful products of its own.
The Biesterfeld Packaging division has been part of the company since the 1950s. Now, a finishing factory for paper and film is built at Alsfeld, near Kassel, and here the company’s own brand of “Julia” household papers is produced, starting in 1977. This division belongs to the group until the early 1990s.
In 1976, the company changes its corporate design. The red-and-white flag emblem gives way to a modern abstract logo which underlines the unified presence of the entire group of companies.
In the 1980s, new and stricter legislation on chemicals imposes restrictions on the handling of chemicals. This prompts Biesterfeld to implement an extensive capital expenditure program to modernize its chemicals facilities. For example, capacity designed to cater for future needs is created by building modern storage facilities for organic and inorganic chemicals.
In 1981 the Biesterfeld Group is reorganised. Following the 75th anniversary of its foundation, branch offices and subsidiaries are grouped into the company Wilhelm E. H. Biesterfeld. The group’s core activities at that time comprise: chemical facilities, imports, exports, packaging materials, salt, agro-chemicals and international forwarding.
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1987 - 1996
Time for new connections and realignment
The Biesterfeld Group expands into the Asian region in the mid 1980s with branch offices in China, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
In Europe Biesterfeld Plastic GmbH established in 1988 as a legally independent company, starts operating in the polymers distribution.
Closer cooperation with suppliers and the formation of new subsidiaries in France, Italy, Poland and Spain strengthens the position of Biesterfeld Plastic on the international market.
Construction and conversion measures at the company’s head office in Hamburg in the late 1980s cater for the growth of the various divisions and the increased demands with regard to the quality of customer care.
With German unification, Biesterfeld enters into a joint venture relating to inorganic chemicals and their sale in former Eastern Germany. Working from Hoppegarten, near Berlin, acquisition and participation lead to the creation of an additional centre in Saxony that forms an ideal addition to the nationwide distribution network.
A further joint venture by the former Biesterfeld Agrar- und Gartenbedarf GmbH, Krupp Lonrho (1989) and the companies Scheibler and Linssen (1994), gives rise to Biesterfeld Scheibler Linssen GmbH & Co. KG, which is based in Hamburg.
The stronger focus on distribution of specialty chemicals plus applications technology as a back-up service leads to the founding of Biesterfeld Spezialchemie GmbH.
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1997 – 2006
With clear structures into the new millennium
As the new millennium begins, Biesterfeld embarks. on a strategic realignment of the group’s structure. Not only trade and distribution, but also technical service, development and customer support have long been important factors. The structure of the divisions as independent companies mobilizes massive growth potential.
In 2000, the growth of data processing and software development requirements in Biesterfeld’s IT sector lead to the formation of BIT-SERV. The new company develops solutions for the Internet, and offers data processing and network applications not only for the group itself, but also for external customers.
The joint venture Biesterfeld Chemiedistribution GmbH in cooperation with Brenntag commences its activities at the beginning of 2003. Its establishment is a significant step by the Biesterfeld Group towards concentration on its core competencies in the fields of advice and applications support. On the factory site in Cologne, Biesterfeld Chemiehandel GmbH & Co. KG can now look back on more than thirty years’ experience in contract packaging. It is also committed to responsible use of the environment by means of exemplary site analysis and remediation.
In April 2004, Wilhelm E.H. Biesterfeld GmbH & Co. KG, the group’s parent company, becomes Biesterfeld AG, in the legal form of a public company. Executive and Supervisory Boards are established and start their successful work. This caters for the increased demands on the group and paves the way for the placement of profit-participation rights. The company’s equity capital base thus grows substantially. Focussing on the opportunities of the capital market while at the same time maintaining the family character of the business assures the group’s successful growth in its core business fields.
As a result of undivided concentration on the core business fields the outstanding shares of Biesterfeld Siemsglüss International GmbH are acquired in July 2005. This division’s specialization in international trade of industrial chemicals, pharmaceutical raw materials and agro-chemicals generates great synergy potential throughout the group.
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