Holding company (Public) |
|
Traded as | SIX: KNIN |
Industry |
Transport Logistics |
Founded | Bremen, Germany (1890 ) |
Founder | |
Headquarters | Schindellegi, Switzerland |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Key people
|
Klaus-Michael Kühne (Honorary Chairman) Karl Gernandt (Chairman) Detlef Trefzger (CEO) Markus Blanka-Graff (CFO) Martin Kolbe (CIO) Tim Scharwath (EVP Air Logistics) Otto Schacht (EVP Sea Logistics) Stefan Paul (EVP Road & Rail Logistics) Lothar A. Harings (CHRO) |
Products | see services and solutions |
Revenue | CHF 20.2 billion (2015) |
CHF 679 million (2015) | |
Number of employees
|
63,248 (2012) |
Website | kuehne-nagel.com |
Kuehne + Nagel International AG (or Kühne + Nagel) is a global transportation and logistics company based in Schindellegi, Switzerland. It was founded in 1890, in Bremen, Germany, by August Kühne and Friedrich Nagel. It provides sea freight and airfreight forwarding, contract logistics, and overland businesses with a focus on providing IT-based logistics solutions. In 2017, Kuehne + Nagel was the leading global freight forwarder, accounting for nearly 15% of the world's air and sea freight business by revenue, ahead of DHL Global Forwarding, DB Schenker Logistics, and Panalpina. As of 2017, it has more than 1,200 offices in over 100 countries, with over 70,000 employees.
The origins of Kuehne + Nagel was in 1890, when August Kühne and Friedrich Nagel founded a forwarding commission agency in Bremen, Germany. It initially used to concentrate on cotton and consolidated freight. Later in 1902, it expanded its operations to the German seaport city of Hamburg.
In 1907, the co-founder Friedrich Nagel died, and August Kühne took over his shares in the company. The legacy of Nagel still lives on, in the company's name - Kuehne + Nagel (KN). The First World War greatly affected its businesses.
Upon Kühne's death in 1932, his sons - Alfred and Werner - became partners in the firm. Adolf Maass (1875 - probably early in 1945 in Auschwitz concentration camp), who was Jewish, a partner, and the firm's largest shareholder with a 45% stake, was forced out in April 1933. On the 1st of May 1933 Alfred and Werner Kühne joined the Nazi Party, and under the brothers' management the firm played a prominent role in the transport of property seized from Jews in occupied territories.
In the early 1950s, Alfred Kühne initiated the company's international expansion; and KN expanded its operations into Canada, with the opening of branch offices in Toronto and Montreal. In 1963, KN took a controlling stake in Athens based Proodos S.A, and also expanded into Italy. In 1975, the company adopted a holding company structure, with the formation of Kuehne + Nagel International AG based in Schindellegi, Switzerland, as the ultimate holding company.