HISTORY

“HERMES” Sp. z o.o. was established in 1990 in Gdynia as one of the first Polish private forwarding companies. The initial form of activity was a Polish and Austrian joint venture, where Hermes Spedition GmbH & Co KG was the Austrian shareholder. The co-founder and the first President of the company was Andrzej Surowiec, doctor of economics, distinguished in the Polish marine economy.

The ‘nineties’, accompanied by the fast development of the Polish economy, enabled the company to undertake, innovative at that time, ventures with regard to reloading of cereals, loose fertilizers and iron ores. Cooperation with Louis Dreyfuss, Glencore or the governmental Agricultural Market Agency (ARR) meant millions of tons of wheat, corn and fodder being forwarded by Hermes. Contracts with global potentates in the fertilizer industry, such as Transammonia or companies of polish origin like Ciech and Fosfory, contributed to our expertise in forwarding and trans-loading urea, potassium salt, ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphates on dozens of ships bot in import and export. The development and modernization of petrochemical, motor, energy and chemical markets enabled the company to gain experience at the deliveries provided to such tycoons as PKN Orlen, Lotos, Daewoo, Fiat, Anwil.

The fast development of the container market half-way through the 90ties brought new opportunities to Hermes. Together with the growing turnover of the Polish foreign trade, the company initiated an active operation on foreign markets, building up an international network of trustworthy partners and agents.

The year 1994 was full of changes – the company became independent of the Austrian partner, taking up 95% shares, and the management of the company was taken over by a son of the President of that time, Tomasz Surowiec – a former long-time employee in the branches of the shipping company Chipolbrok in Gdynia and Genoa and the Head Office in Shanghai. Thanks to new contacts and experience gained on international markets, in the following years, Tomasz Surowiec developed the family company, turning it into an enterprise efficiently operating on the international market.

Providing services at the highest level, the Hermes company, skillfully adjusting to the changing market conditions, was found in the lead of forwarding companies in Poland, and the twenty years of activity were ended spectacularly with the delivery of 4 reactors (2 x 805 tons, 1 x 1100 tons, 1 x 1300 tons) to the Refinery in Gdańsk within the confines of 10 + Programme, one of greater ventures, considering the scale and value, implemented in the Polish economy. The size of the venture and the record tonnage of the delivered devices made Hermes Sp. z o.o. enter for good the history of the Polish logistics and forwarding.