• The businessman looks back on five decades of joint history and draws a personal conclusion
• Bavarian haulier now regularly provides 60 trucks for the line haul of the German express specialist

On 1 September, the two companies Roman Mayer and trans-o-flex celebrated a rare anniversary. For 50 years, the haulier from Gersthofen near Augsburg has been working for trans-o-flex Expressdienst from Weinheim an der Bergstraße, which specialises in pharmaceuticals and other sensitive goods. And what is even rarer: the businessman Roman Mayer, who has accompanied and shaped the cooperation through all five decades, was able to look back on the partnership in person at a ceremony to mark the anniversary.

"We drove the first tour for trans-o-flex on 1 September 1972," recalls Mayer, now 73. Since then, the partnership has grown steadily. By the end of 1976, 12 of our vehicles were already in operation in Bavaria for trans-o-flex. In 1984, there were around 20." He counts the time of German reunification as one of the highlights of the working relationship. "That’s when the volumes suddenly increased rapidly, and we sometimes had to deploy 16 additional lines in one afternoon."

For Mayer, the conclusion from 50 years of working together with trans-o-flex is: "I wouldn’t want to miss these exciting decades. If I got a call today like I did in 1972, I would act the same way as I did then and take the path with trans-o-flex again."

Mayers Spedition is now part of the Roman Mayer Logistik Group, which consists of 19 companies, is represented at 29 locations worldwide and employs more than 1,400 people. The group has around 130,000 m² of logistics space with 100,000 pallet spaces in high-bay warehouses and uses almost 400 of its own trucks. Around 60 of them are regularly deployed for trans-o-flex in line haul.

"You don’t often find such a long and successful cooperation, which has proven to be strong and sustainable even in the vicissitudes of history," said trans-o-flex CEO Wolfgang P. Albeck when he presented Mayer with a glass trophy to mark the anniversary. "Both companies have developed very positively in this partnership and can be proud of it. Given the joint success, I am very confident that the cooperation will continue in the decades to come."