Business, Politics, States Can Work Together in Germany

Oliver Seidl, CFO DB Schenker, Manne Lucha, Minister for Social Affairs Baden-Württemberg, Uwe-Karsten Städter, Member Executive Board for Procurement at Porsche, and Dorothea von Boxberg, COO Lufthansa Cargo ( l-r). Click to Enlarge.

Porsche, DB Schenker and Lufthansa Cargo are helping Baden-Württemberg and the Free State of Saxony with the coronavirus crisis. The automaker put together a task force with six employees from the Procurement department and is organizing supply chains of urgently needed protective equipment on behalf of German state governments.

Together with the logistics partners DB Schenker and Lufthansa Cargo, Porsche is ensuring “problem-free” transport of protective masks, goggles, and protective suits from Shanghai to Germany. Since 9 April, up to six ex-passenger aircraft a week have been flying from China for Baden-Württemberg and the Free State of Saxony.

Directly after arrival in Frankfurt and Munich, the material is reloaded onto trucks and transported to an intermediate warehouse of DB Schenker at the Stuttgart airport. Here, the state governments of Saxony and Baden-Württemberg take over distribution of the protective equipment so that it can be used to prevent the spread of coronavirus in hospitals, emergency services and other institutions.

Since the flights started, several million protective items (face masks of different protection classes, protective suits, and protective goggles) have arrived at the intermediate warehouse in Stuttgart. By the end of May, protective materials with a value running into triple-digit millions of euros will have been organized and transported from China to Germany. That is equivalent in total to a volume of up to 50 passenger aircraft needed for transport.

Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg: “The good relationship between Porsche and the state government is now paying off. We are learning to value the benefits of global companies. Porsche has a quite different network in China, for example, than we as a state government could ever have. It is an enormous help and simply marvelous that companies such as Porsche can assist us in procuring protective equipment from China.”

Michael Kretschmer, Minister-President of the Free State of Saxony: “The commitment of the companies involved is fantastic. This joint resolute action is making a crucial contribution to ensuring that the situation relating to provision of medical protective equipment will continue to improve also in Saxony over the coming days and weeks. We are currently also benefiting from the extensive experience of Porsche on the Chinese market. Both responsibility and solidarity are being clearly demonstrated here. Thank you!”