Kuehne+Nagel history

1902: Adolf Maass heads up the Hamburg branch office.

In 1907, the co-founder Friedrich Nagel died, and August Kühne took over his shares in the company.

In 1909 August Kühne acquired the von Kapff Mansion near the Weser Bridge in Bremen, where he had worked as an apprentice.

In 1910 Adolf Maass became a partner in KN.

Bremerhaven had warehousing facilities, just like Bremen; there were representatives of the firm in Lübeck and Leipzig, and in 1913 an office was opened in Berlin, the capital of imperial Germany.

August Kühne tried to keep the business going, but the total naval blockage of 1915 put an end to the last ocean connections that had been sustained with a few neutral states.

Alfred Kühne, who had spent some time arranging sea freight forwarding in Rotterdam, returned to his father's company in 1921.

In 1924 a branch was opened in Lübeck to handle traffic in the Baltic sea.

Upon Kühne's death in 1932, his sons - Alfred and Werner - became partners in the firm.

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.

KN was reorganized in 1942 and was run from the central office in Berlin.

In the same year, a branch was established at Königsberg and another at Regensburg in 1943.

KN's headquarters in Bremen, including the archives, were completely destroyed during an air raid in 1944.

1946: KN focuses on providing transport in the three remaining German occupation zones.

In 1953 a KN subsidiary was founded in Canada, with branches in Toronto and Montreal.

A branch was opened in Vancouver in 1957 to handle incoming goods from Japan and Hong Kong, and to reship them to eastern Canada.

1959: Kühne & Nagel AG is formed in Switzerland.

Klaus-Michael Kühne joined his father and Ludwig Rössinger as a junior partner in 1963, having completed an apprenticeship in banking.

In 1966, at the age of 30, he joined the management team as executive chairman; and spearheaded KN’s future expansions, particularly its European and the Far Eastoperations.

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.

Alfred Kühne died in 1981.

In 1989 the prestigious German business publication Manager Magazin voted Klaus-Michael Kühne "Mr.

In May 1990 KN founded, via a joint venture contract with the former state-owned forwarder VEB Deutrans, the KN Speditions-GmbH in East Berlin.

Then in 1992, after securing a record net profit of $26.6 million, KN announced its intention to go public.

Europe," reflecting the farsighted approach KN took in the increasing economic integration of Europe and the removal of internal trading barriers, scheduled for 1993.

In May 1994, the company listed on the Zurich and Frankfurt exchanges.

In July 1999, Kühne handed over the post of CEO to Klaus Herms, and continued as the executive chairman and president of the board.

In 2000, KN entered an alliance with Singapore-based SembCorp Logistics Ltd., gaining a foothold in the Asia-Pacific region.

Both revenue and profits increased during 2001.

KN and SembCorp chose to follow different strategic paths in 2004, and ended their strategic partnership.

The succession plan was similar to the SAP's 2007 CEO transition plan from Henning Kagermann to Léo Apotheker, which received praise in the media.

In 2012, Kuehne + Nagel acquired the business contracts of Canada's Perishables International Transportation (PIT) to expand into global fresh and frozen foods network.