The founding of OKD, Doprava in 1952 was part of the post-war era of economic reconstruction in what was then Czechoslovakia, a period of new ideas regarding the organisation of state companies. It was apparent that the newly established OKR-Doprava was focused on meeting the needs of the Ostrava-Karviná mining enterprise. Despite the scope of operations being limited in the early years, the quality of the services and results achieved were endorsements of the decision to establish a specialised transport organisation. A framework fund for the subsequent expansion and development of services was gradually created. Following the war, a dire shortage of lorries essential for the surface operations of mines was resolved by amalgamating road transport services and the complete OKD fleet, including both freight and passenger vehicles, into OKR, Doprava. Rail tracks within the mining districts, constituting 350 km of railway network that had been devastated during the war, were repaired and restored to working order by OKR, Doprava.
The history of the company, subsequently renamed OKD, Doprava, contains no period during which development slowed or activities were reduced. The company was quickly successful in identifying the needs of its customers and developing and providing new solutions, extending the scope of its activities, and expanding its operations with new technologies and services. The extent of technological processes employed within the Ostrava-Karviná mining district, and subsequently the scope of services, peaked in 1979 at a level of mining production hard to imagine in today’s world, with nearly 30 million tonnes of coal loaded for rail transport. This volume of material was transported via a railway network over undermined terrain, with OKD, Doprava remedying mining damage by reclamation, sometimes requiring the elevation of rail tracks by as much as 11m.
The following years, and in particular the 1990s, brought a fundamental shift in the focus of OKD, Doprava in an effort to find a new business to counter the risk of declining mining operations. We have been utilising employees, vehicles and facilities from OKD, Doprava while developing our activities in other regions of Moravia and Bohemia, as well as on the public rail network. In short, we are present wherever OKD, Doprava could find new customers. Nevertheless, OKD remains a key customer, to whom our company provides services for the mining, processing and distribution of coal and coke, making sure that the services, in their presentation and quality, are aligned with the customers’ expectations, and ensuring that OKD, Doprava actively offers and introduces new ones.
The extent of change experienced by OKD, Doprava over the last sixty years can be judged best by those employees who witnessed them firsthand. While the first four decades in the company’s history were concerned mostly with tonnes and tonne-kilometres, the following decade brought new concepts to the forefront – markets, marketing, and the customer. The past 10 years have introduced acquisitions, restructuring, and group awareness in a broader sense, i.e. awareness of the AWT Group in its European dimension.
However, there is one constant that has not diminished in its importance, rather the contrary. We continue to treasure ideas, skills, expertise and new challenges. We value enthusiasm for work, reliability, openness towards customer needs – preferably even unspoken ones – and solidarity within the group.
These values and above all the degree to which they are embraced in every workplace by each employee, regardless of their job descriptions, will be decisive in the continuation of a history that began exactly 60 years ago.
Ing. Bohumil Bonczek
