Page 84 - CH 2-2023 EN

CARPET STAR
2023
Carpet Retailers of the Year
Teppich-Fachhändler des Jahres
HOME
CARPET STAR 2023
Klaus-Peter Köster earns a Carpet Star for Lifetime Achievement
Logistics veteran and all-around nice guy
“Go ask Köster, he’ll get it done!” Many in the industry have heard these words when they needed to get an oriental rug from one place to another (shortly before it got there). Working at his shipping company Interexpress located
5 in the heart of Hamburg’s traditional Speicher- stadt warehouse district, Klaus-Peter Köster has served as a key partner for carpet importers since 1979. Now as he enters retirement at age 77, the logistics veteran has received a Carpet Star award for lifetime achievement in the in-
dustry.
Köster apprenticed back in the 1960s as a freight forwarding manager in Hamburg before start- ing out in his career working for Danzas. Tak- ing off for a two-year stint as manager of Ham- burg’s iconic ice cream parlour Ottos Eiscafe, he returned to the industry working for freight forwarder Leinau Söhne with of-
fices in the Holländisches Brook section of the Speicherstadt. And that is where
Klaus-Peter Köster
he came into contact with Hamburg’s carpet traders for the first time. When he moved over to the company Eurotrans, many of these trad- ers – now customers – switched logistics provid- ers to continue working with him.
And then it was similar when he founded his own company, Interexpress K.P. Köster GmbH with offices at Zippelhaus 5, right across from the warehouse district. Using the red Nordtrans trucks seen ubiquitously around the port area, Köster shipped rugs out to the Ortefa, Heimtex- til, Eurotefa and Domotex trade fairs – where he had his own stand as well to interact directly with his clientèle. He also travelled around to the world’s carpet producing countries to build up his business network. In 1992 he moved of-
fices over to Brook 3 to be clos- er to “his” carpet dealers, adding on a warehouse of his own. It was during these years that Klaus-
84 II / 2023