If Anny Meyer had been happy with settling in the provincial town of Tangermünde, the company might never have been founded in Hamburg.
It was his wife’s strong desire to live in a larger city that brought Friedrich Hugo Ernst Meyer to Hamburg in 1897 when they moved to the city together. That is where Hugo Ernst Meyer founded the company. Looking back, it was his love for his wife that started the success story that is Fr. Meyer’s Sohn. In that sense, the business model as well as the current location of FMS could be interpreted as the result of Hugo Ernst Meyer’s unwavering love for his wife.
When Hugo Ernst met his future wife, he was immediately faced with a major challenge. At the time, Friedrich Hugo Ernst Meyer earned his money in the family-run sugar refinery Friedrich Meyer's Sohn AG in Tangermünde. The rural village was too small for Anny Meyer, though, and she let him know that she wanted to move to a bigger city. To fulfill her wish, though, Meyer was going to need an expansion of the business idea. Together with the rest of the family, the decision was made to focus on shipping in Hamburg. Although it already existed in the sugar refinery in Tangermünde, shipping was further expanded in Hamburg.An idea that, as we well know now, led to a highly successful business. The name of the old company, Fr. Meyer's Sohn, was kept.
Hugo Ernst Meyer quickly grew the logistics business and hired a renowned specialist with the required expertise in logistics. The company has had to weather a number of political and economic crisis periods. It withstood the First and Second World Wars without any damages. This became problematic after the end of the Second World War, though, when it became difficult to gain financing from banks. But this crisis was also overcome successfully, and FMS is now among the top 10 maritime freight companies. Like then, these days well-trained employees and the financial stability of the shareholders are part of the recipe for success. Each year, the forwarding business trains 20 apprentices, most of whom are hired after their training. Fr. Meyer's Sohn considers itself to be well-positioned for the future and is looking forward to further successes.
