VTL Freight Cooperation Celebrates 25 Years

VTL Vernetzte-Transport-Logistik GmbH is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The founding goal of VTL in March 1998 was to establish a freight cooperation for small and medium-sized logistics companies to meet the demand for a comprehensive transport network in Germany with optimal truck utilization. Through the merger with Spedition 2000 in 2005, VTL has developed into one of the leading quality freight cooperations with 127 partners and is well positioned for the future.

(Fulda) VTL started with 45 partners and 12 gates at the Herleshausen location. The special feature of the first handling night in 1998 was that all 45 partners appeared at the HUB as agreed by handshake and kicked off VTL. From that moment on, it was clear that at VTL there was not only strong cohesion and high reliability, but that all participants valued a fair, open, and cooperative interaction – this has not changed to this day. These shared values shape the image of the VTL CargoFamily, which is further characterized by clear structures combined with high flexibility of medium-sized businesses and high quality.

Since 2000, the 37,000 m² company premises of the VTL system headquarters have been located in the center of Germany – in Fulda. Due to increasing volumes, the handling area of the central transshipment operation has been gradually expanded in recent years and now includes, in addition to the office building, a nearly 10,000 m² transshipment hall with 115 gates. Currently, 125 employees at the central HUB ensure smooth goods handling. Two additional regional transshipment operations are run by VTL partners in the Hanover and Gelsenkirchen areas.

In the early phase of VTL, the network only had domestic connections. The first European-wide transports were implemented starting in 2004. Today, VTL is well connected in over 39 countries.

Milestone: Merger with Spedition2000

A milestone for VTL was the merger with Spedition2000 in 2005, which combined two smaller networks into a competitive cooperation and utilized a multitude of synergies and growth potentials. Four years after the merger, the freight cooperation surpassed the 1 million shipment mark. In the following year, the shipment volume nearly doubled compared to 2006. In 2022, the shipment volume in the network reached 1.36 million shipments.

From the beginning, the company worked with a powerful internet portal to transmit shipment data quickly and reliably. In 2012, digitalization was further advanced with the implementation of the cooperation software “myVTL” as another milestone in VTL’s history. The ERP system tailored to the needs of partners and customers offers an intuitive and comfortable platform with precise interfaces and enables smooth and automated data exchange. In the future, VTL will continue to focus on the further development of the myVTL software, as well as customer-oriented solutions, such as the fully automated freight cost calculator and practical ETA calculations for determining meaningful arrival times for deliveries.

Proud Reflection on the Last 25 Years

“Together, we look back with pride on the past 25 years and look forward to the future. Our focus is strongly on the topics of digitalization and innovation, as well as the further development of our existing processes – this way, we are well prepared for the future, because stagnation means regression for us, and that is not an option,” says VTL Managing Director Johanna Broese.

25 Years of VTL Podcast with Founding Member Heinz Hintzen and VTL Managing Director Johanna Broese

Photo: © VTL