One of the last great port entrepreneurs
Jürgen Gerhards Buss, the former owner of the Gerd Buss group of companies in Hamburg, passed away on 28 August 2021 at the age of 96.
He is considered one of the most important, progressive and social entrepreneurs. With his positive and entrepreneurial attitude, he was instrumental in driving the port of Hamburg’s development over 50 years.
After returning from a prisoner-of-war camp in 1946, Buss began to actively develop new ideas and projects in his father’s stevedoring company Gerd Buss Stauerei. He was the first entrepreneur to use forklift trucks in the port and successfully introduced the cargo securing business. Later on, the subsidiary B.U.S.S. marketed and sold forklifts for various international manufacturers.
Very early, Buss recognised the importance of the container for international maritime transport and for his own company as well. At first, the company experimented with self-built containers.
But soon Buss Container System Service began offering the full range of services - from rental of sea containers, production and installation of container lashing material, container pack stations to repair and maintenance work.
In partnership with Transfracht, the Buss Group operated a network of twelve inland container depots and terminals in the German hinterland. In the 1990s, the Buss Group was the second largest port company, with over 1000 employees. (nauticus)