Daimler Presents European Carrier Awards 2011

• ECM (Vehicle Delivery Service) Ltd wins the award in the passenger vehicle logistics category
• Braase GmbH & Co. KG honored as the best transport partner for commercial vehicles
• Special Lifetime Achievement Award presented posthumously to Willi Helf (+ 2011) from Helf Automobil-Logistik GmbH

Stuttgart – In 2011, the year that marked the 125th anniversary of the birth of the automobile, Daimler once again presented its European Carrier Awards to the best logistics providers in the area of complete vehicle transportation. The awards ceremony was held yesterday as part of the European Carrier Day 2011. Dr. Holger Scherr, who is responsible for Global Transport Logistics of Daimler Cars, Trucks, Vans, and Buses, and Egon Christ, who is responsible for Global Transport Logistics of Daimler Vehicles, handed over the awards in the Mercedes-Benz truck plant in Wörth.

“Our brand message of ‘the best or nothing’ fully applies to our vehicle logistics as well,” says Christ. “We can only completely live up to this promise if customers receive our vehicles in flawless condition and on time. This year’s prize-winners exemplify this philosophy in a particularly impressive way.”

First prize in the Passenger Cars category went to ECM (Vehicle Delivery Service) Ltd from Carlisle in the county of Cumbria, United Kingdom. The company transports Daimler passenger cars in the UK. It was selected for the award because it put in the best overall performance. The firm’s success was based on flawless vehicle shipments, the on-time delivery of all vehicles, and an extremely well trained workforce.

In the Commercial Vehicles category, this year’s award was presented to the shipping company Braase from Fockbeck in Germany. In addition to shipping vehicles in a highly professional manner, Braase almost managed to deliver the vehicles without any damage. Both these facts greatly helped the company receive the coveted award.

This year’s Special Lifetime Achievement Award was presented posthumously to Willi Helf (Helf Automobil-Logistik GmbH, Germany), who died in August 2011. Helf’s personal and professional skills were greatly appreciated throughout the industry. Helf Automobil-Logistik GmbH was restructured in October 2001. Under Helf’s dedicated leadership from 2004 to 2009, the company claimed first place in the Commercial Vehicles category six times; it also came in third in the Passenger Cars category in 2008. The company received the awards as a result of its outstanding customer focus and an unmatched approach to quality management.

This year marked the 12th time that the European Carrier Awards Passenger Cars were presented while the European Carrier Awards Commercial Vehicles were presented for the eighth time. The logistics services providers are judged on the basis of specific key statistical values from an auditing process that was standardized for passenger cars and commercial vehicles in 2004. Continuous monitoring of all of the companies’ vehicle shipments is carried out over a one-year period. During this time, transport damage, transport times, the quality of vehicle shipping, and the general condition of the equipment used are all thoroughly evaluated.

The Daimler European Carrier Day 2011, at which the European Carrier Awards were presented, is the most important sector forum for the roughly 110 companies that transport complete vehicles for Daimler in Europe.