Five Years of Petersen Mordhorst Logistics for Schleswig-Holstein

Five years ago, E. Mordhorst Internationale Spedition GmbH and Gaston Petersen Spedition GmbH, both based in Kiel, merged to form Petersen Mordhorst Logistics GmbH (PM Logistics). Since then, the company has nearly doubled its shipment output and increased its revenue volume by more than a third.

(Kiel) “The merger was the right decision for us at the time; today we are one of the leading general cargo forwarding companies in Schleswig-Holstein,” says Gaston Petersen, owner and sole managing director of PM Logistics. The company’s focus is primarily on domestic and Europe-wide groupage transport as well as extensive logistics activities.

The logistics service provider concentrates all its transport activities within the largest German general cargo cooperation, IDS Logistik GmbH, covering the entire area of Schleswig-Holstein for the general cargo network. “In addition to the IDS central HUB in Neuenstein and the regional HUB in Hannover, we now serve over 40 of the 50 IDS locations with direct lines, allowing us to offer our customers even better transit times.

New Major Customers from Schleswig-Holstein

The significant expansion of business volume has been primarily driven by new prominent major customers from Schleswig-Holstein. Additionally, the company has developed innovative delivery processes. This includes, for example, the delivery of small goods with 3.5-ton trucks. This saves resources, protects the environment, and reduces road congestion. Conversely, PM Logistics launched its first gigaliner on the road in 2020, which primarily operates between Kiel and northern Schleswig-Holstein, saving one-third of the otherwise required trips daily.

PM Logistics has further plans that are being implemented in the short term. The increased business volume requires more space. Petersen intends to significantly expand the forwarding facility in southern Kiel by an additional 2,000 square meters of transshipment area.

5 Years of Petersen Mordhorst Logistics PML

Shipment Boom in Spring Business

The spring business of 2021 exceeds all forecasts and reaches completely unexpected, unprecedented dimensions. For weeks, the shipment volumes have been significantly above the previous year’s figures. In the IDS general cargo network, of which PM Logistics is the northernmost partner, the average number of shipments per day in March 2019 and 2020 was 43,300, while in March 2021, the general cargo cooperation transported around 51,500 shipments daily.

It was clear that there would be an increase. IDS and PML prepared for additional volumes of 8 to 9 percent compared to the previous year and created the corresponding conditions. However, the additional shipment volumes have increased by around 20 percent, more than double what was expected, and the development accelerated significantly in April.

This significant increase is not only due to the large rise in B2C shipments from online orders, which accounted for the expected 24 percent in March. Rather, the enormous increase is particularly a result of the B2B business. Here, the catch-up effects from industry and consumption are significantly larger than predicted by economic researchers. This shipment boom currently affects the entire general cargo market.

Photo: © Petersen Mordhorst