Located in the heart of Schleswig-Holstein, directly on the Kiel Canal and on the River Eider, the traditional iron foundry AHLMANN-CARLSHÜTTE started the shipping company "AHLMANN-TRANSPORT" in 1950 in Rendsburg-Büdelsdorf. Three years later, the shipping and stevedoring department was established, in order to arrange the shipping of the iron foundries´ own products - primarily bathtubs.

Over the decades, the company has developed into one of the leading ship brokers, port handling and warehousing companies in Schleswig-Holstein. The main commodities for transshipment are bulk cargoes such as fertilizers and feedstuff, grain, road construction materials and pig iron.

AHLMANN-SCHIFFFAHRT GMBH + CO KG was founded in 1989 and a discharging and warehouse facility for the low-dust handling of fertilizers was built in Rendsburg. With the establishment of branches in Rostock, Wismar and Stralsund in 1992, she was able to expand the services offered to the new federal states, too. In order to meet customers' requirements even better, further branches followed in 2000 in Kiel and Hamburg, 2002 in Wolgast and Sassnitz-Mukran, 2008 in Brunsbüttel, and most recently in 2018 in Bremen.

The second namesake also has a long history, as the shipping company "Zerssen & Co." was founded 1839 already on the Eider Canal (the forerunner of the Kiel Canal) by Joh. Chr. Zerssen in Rendsburg - at times even with its own steamer fleet.

In 1999 these two Rendsburg ship brokers and port handling companies were merged - and AHLMANN-ZERSSEN GMBH + CO KG was established.

In 2002 the first closer contacts were were established in Poland, which led to the founding of AHLMANN-ZERSSEN Sp. z o.o. in Szczecin.

At the beginning of 2016, AHLMANN-ZERSSEN GMBH became a subsidiary of the family-owned logistics company Peterson Control Union, Rotterdam, which employs over 4000 people in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Hudig & Veder B.V., Rhoon has also been a co-shareholder since 2020. The same range of maritime services creates synergies for all parties involved, also for the benefit of our customers.

The former subsidiary in Poland now operates under the name of the one parent company as Peterson Polska Sp. z o.o., through which all services are provided in the familiar professional way.

The ongoing commitment to expand the agency network and other services resulted in the establishment of AHLMANN-ZERSSEN SIA in Riga (with further branches in the ports of Liepaja and Ventspils) as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AHLMANN-ZERSSEN GMBH, Rendsburg at the end of 2022.

Through these networks and cooperations developed over the years, AHLMANN-ZERSSEN offers a complete service for shipping, agency, chartering, transhipment, warehousing, transport, customs services and logistics in many German and European ports. The slogan "Shipping and logistics from A - Z" says it all - and is more up-to-date than ever!