After the First World War, the economy and also the port of Hamburg experience a new beginning. In this environment, Gerhard (Gerd) Buss founds the Gerd Buss Stevedoring Company in 1920. A year later, he takes his brother Hinrich (Uncle Hinni) on as a partner in the company. The brothers bring good qualifications with them: Gerd had previously served at sea as an officer and had experience in cargo stowage. Hinrich was a trained shipbroker and understood the customer side - shipping companies as well as trade and industry.

With the Second World War, the globalization of the 1920s and 1930s comes to an abrupt end, and with it the activities of the Gerd Buss stevedoring company. Only occasional small ships are still handled.

The Port of Hamburg is largely destroyed during the Second World War. Initially, the Gerd Buss stevedoring company mainly handles ships for the supply of the British occupying forces. With the reconstruction of the German economy, Buss succeeds in winning back old customers. Jürgen Buss also becomes managing partner of the Gerd Buss Stevedoring Company, alongside his father Gerd and his brother Hinrich.

The second half of the 1960s saw radical changes. The container is an industrial revolution for conventional general cargo handling, which until then had been labor-intensive and mostly carried out by hand. Containers standardize and mechanize processes and enable an enormous leap in productivity. Transport becomes many times cheaper, faster, more punctual and safer. The stevedoring business is rapidly becoming obsolete - one of the goals of containerization. To stay in the port handling business, Buss decides to operate its own handling terminals.

In order to buy handling terminals, the Iduna insurance group gives Buss a loan from the Aug. Bolten shipping company through the intermediary of Dr. Hans Helmut Killinger, a business partner who is a friend of Jürgen Buss. When Buss is unable to repay the loan, the shareholders of Aug. Bolten, Dr. Hans Helmut Killinger and Dr. Johan Binder, step in and take over two-thirds of Buss' shares. This was because Aug. Bolten did not want to jeopardize its business relationship with Iduna. Combining Buss' capital-intensive shipping business and its profitable port services business means a significant broadening of the capital base and also tax advantages for both companies - they can expand considerably.

As early as 1961, with the beginning of containerization, Buss sets up a working group to look into containers and corresponding business opportunities. Among other things, Buss becomes an agent for container leasing companies. Furthermore, Buss operates mobile workshops for maintenance, repair and sale of containers. In 1980, Buss develops and operates container depots throughout Germany together with Deutsche Bahn. It is not until the end of the 1980s that Buss enters the container handling business with the conversion of the Tollerort terminal into a container terminal.

In 1990, Jürgen Buss retires as Managing Director and shareholder. The management of the Buss Group is initially taken over by Dr. Wilfried Schmidt-Pathmann and then, between 1992 and 1999, by the former Hapag-Lloyd manager Olaf von Maydell. In 1991, Dr. Johann Killinger, today's managing partner, joins Buss as project manager for a logistics center in the port. His father, Dr. Hans Helmut Killinger, transfers his shares in Buss to him in 1994.

The focus on conventional general cargo transport proves to be very disadvantageous after the "Wende". With the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the rapid industrialization of Asia at the end of the 1980s, the remaining conventional liner services rapidly lose importance. Conventional general cargo handling - Buss' core business - declines rapidly. Buss gets into heavy seas.

The entire 1990s are characterized by efforts to consolidate the sharply declining conventional cargo handling business. Buss has to lay off hundreds of port workers and close conventional handling terminals, Rosskai, Afrika Terminal (now HafenCity) and Kuhwerder Terminal. Only Hansa Terminal, taken over by HHLA, remains. The restructuring and ongoing losses cost a lot of money, which is not available for investments in the container terminal business. Buss therefore sells the Tollerort container terminal to HHLA. Buss is also forced to divest its lucrative interests in the container depots in Germany and its holdings in Emden and Brunsbüttelb.

Against the background of its uncertain future in the Port of Hamburg, Buss begins to develop port business outside Hamburg from 2005, initially in Sassnitz/Mukran and later with a terminal in Stade. The port activities of the Buss Group are combined under the name "Buss Ports". In Eemshaven, the Netherlands, Buss puts a large multi-purpose terminal into operation, which is primarily used for the logistics of offshore wind turbines.

Modern logistics real estate is increasingly in demand on the market, also as an investment property. Therefore, the logistics real estate business, development and management, becomes a core business of Buss after the change of shareholders in 2001. In 2004, the "Logistics Real Estate" division is renamed "Ixocon". At the same time, Ixocon also becomes active outside Hamburg, initially mainly in the Frankfurt/Worms area, later throughout Germany.

Despite high competitive pressure, Ixocon is able to maintain its position in the market and develop about two projects per year. The complexity of the projects increases over time. The projects are also becoming more technically demanding. Sustainable construction is increasingly becoming the standard. Customers include logistics service providers, but most recently trade and industry. A logistics real estate project for Amazon completed in 2019 is the largest logistics center realized by Ixocon at 150,000 m² and also the largest logistics center in Europe for Amazon. Since the division was founded in 1995, Ixocon has developed more than 50 projects with more than 800,000 m² of warehouse space and an investment volume of more than 600 million euros throughout Germany.

In 2003, Buss founds the issuing house Buss Capital, which conceptualizes and distributes closed-end funds in the field of maritime logistics. Within a few years, Buss Capital becomes the market leader in container funds and also an important financial partner for container leasing companies. Buss Capital establishes a subsidiary in Singapore to manage the container funds. In 2009, Buss Capital opens up further asset classes with real estate funds and ship funds.

After the "Lehmann bankruptcy" in 2008 and the resulting crisis in the financial markets, but also in the container shipping industry, placement figures fall significantly, even though the Buss funds mostly achieve the forecast returns, despite difficult markets. Unlike many of its competitors, Buss Capital therefore remains in the market with container investments. However, the market as a whole is declining. The major leasing companies, Buss Capital's partners, have developed more favorable financing options in the US capital markets. Buss Capital's success is based primarily on the fact that its investments "perform." In container investments in particular, Buss Capital has built up a significant competitive edge over time. Buss Capital twice receives the "Deal of the Year" award for its innovative "securitization of container investments" for the US capital market.

From the very beginning, Dr. Johann Killinger also wanted to finance ships with funds from Buss Capital. Together with partner shipping companies, Buss ordered a total of ten container feeder ships in China in 2006 and 2007. Buss Capital is to handle the financing, while the shipping companies are to handle the management and chartering. The necessary shipping expertise was brought in by Torben Kölln, who had previously joined Buss Capital from a shipping company.

The Lehmann insolvency in September 2008 marked the beginning of a twelve-year crisis in container shipping, which also posed a threat to Buss as a whole because of the ships ordered before the crisis. Globalization had entered a new phase. Container growth had fallen from more than 10 percent p.a. to less than 5 percent p.a. It took container shipping about twelve years to adapt to the change in demand.

The ship funds of Buss Capital are no longer for sale after the beginning of the crisis. It is also no longer possible to cancel the ordered ships. At least Buss can achieve a substantial postponement of delivery in many cases. In 2012, one of the partner shipping companies can no longer fulfill its obligation to banks and Buss. As a result, Buss sets up its own shipping company from 2012 under the management of Torben Kölln: Buss Shipping. In addition, Buss takes over the chartering brokerage Walther Möller.

Buss Terminal Eemshaven, which has been used primarily as a base port for the storage, pre-assembly and shipping of offshore wind farms since 2011, has established itself as one of the three major locations for the offshore wind industry in the North Sea, alongside Esbjerg and Cuxhaven. Eemshaven thus forms the nucleus for our wind energy business area.

In the following years, Buss adds a number of other companies through acquisitions. Buss now also offers the installation and servicing of wind turbines on and offshore. In this development, the division pursues a sustainable and innovative diversification of its services. These include, for example, drone-based inspection services with automatic damage detection or weather-independent blade repair platforms. In addition, Buss is establishing joint ventures in France and the USA with local partners to grow with the renewable energy markets. Since 2019, all Buss wind energy activities have been bundled in the holding company "Buss Energy Group".