Early years and evolution: 1890–1933 The origins of Kuehne + Nagel and under the brothers' management the firm played a prominent role in the transport of property seized from Jews in occupied territories.
Involvement in Nazi theft of Jewish property Kuehne + Nagel played a key role in the Nazi regime's "
M-Aktion". In total, by August 1944, the responsible Nazi agency had had the furnishings of around 65,000 apartments in the
Netherlands,
Belgium,
France and
Luxembourg removed. This required 500 barges and 674 trains. Kuehne + Nagel played a key role in the implementation of the transport logistics. The company was active both directly and with the help of subcontractors in all
occupied Western countries. The transports from the Netherlands are the most extensively researched. For example, Kuehne + Nagel chartered its own steamer to transport looted Jewish property to the
German Reich. The first cargo ship from
Amsterdam arrived Bremen in December 1942. The parts list shows 220 armchairs, 105 beds, 363 tables, 598 chairs, 126 cupboards, 35 sofas, 307 boxes of glassware, 110 mirrors, 158 lamps, 32 clocks, a gramophone and two strollers. These were the property of
Dutch Jews who had been deported to concentration camps in the summer of 1941. The company rapidly expanded during WWII in order to meet the needs of the Nazi war effort, this laid the groundwork for their post-war success. After the war the company escaped repercussions from their activities by cooperating with American and European intelligence agencies.
Transition to a Swiss holding co., and expansion: 1950s – 1990s In the early 1950s,
Alfred Kühne initiated the company's
international expansion. Kuehne + Nagel expanded its operations into
Canada, with the opening of branch offices in
Toronto, Ontario and
Montreal, Quebec. In 1963, Kuehne + Nagel 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. In the mid-1960s, a third-generation member of the Kühne family,
Klaus-Michael Kühne joined his father Alfred Kühne as a junior partner, having completed an
apprenticeship in
banking. In 1966, at the age of 30, he joined the management team as executive chairman and spearheaded Kuehne + Nagel's future expansion, particularly its European and the
Far Eastern operations. In 1981, Alfred Kühne died. In July the same year, due to the losses sustained by the Kühne family in attempting to expand its
shipping fleet, a 50% stake in Kuehne + Nagel was sold to the
British conglomerate Lonrho Plc for 90 million DM. Following the purchase, Klaus-Michael Kühne and Lonrho's head,
Roland "Tiny" Rowland acted as joint chief executives of the combined organisation. Kuehne + Nagel further expanded with its acquisition of freight companies: Domenichelli SpA (Italy), Van Vliet BV (
Netherlands), Hollis Transport Group Ltd. (UK), Transportes Tres (Spain), and other acquisitions in
Denmark,
Norway, and
Sweden.
Further expansion: 1990s – 2000 The
1990 German reunification was an important event for many German companies, including Kuehne + Nagel, and provided them the necessary impetus to expand further. After the reunification, Kuehne + Nagel integrated its network in the former
German Democratic Republic, and consolidated its operations. In 1992, it bought back Lonrho plc's 50% stake in the company, and went public in May 1994. It was listed on the
Zurich and
Frankfurt exchanges, which provided a platform for further exchange-based acquisitions. The same year, Kuehne + a
Russian
subsidiary, and pushed ahead into Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. In 2012, Kuehne + Nagel acquired the business contracts of Canada's Perishables International Transportation (PIT) to expand into global fresh and frozen foods network. In April 2014, Kuehne + Nagel International was fined $3.1 million for its part in a freight forwarding
cartel case brought by the Commerce Commission. Kuehne + Nagel was the last defendant in the seven-year investigation involving six firms, who referred to themselves as the "Gardening Club" and used horticultural code to discuss anti-competitive practices among them. In June 2020 the
2021 Rugby League World Cup announced that Kuehne + Nagel would become the official Logistics Partner of the tournament. Three years later, the company became the logistics partner of the
British Olympic Association, which is why it took over logistics services for the
2024 Summer Olympics in
Paris. In November 2023 Kuehne + Nagel acquired
Farrow, a customs broker out of Ontario, Canada. Farrow will be fully owned by Kuehne + Nagel in early 2024. In January 2024,
Palestine Action vandalized the Kuehne + Nagel office in
Milton Keynes, England by smashing windows and spraying the building with paint. Palestine Action said they targeted the company because it was assisting the
delivery of weapons to Israel. the largest marine drayage company in the United States.
Public processing of the company's history and commemoration Since Klaus Michael Kühne and the company Kuehne + Nagel refused to remember the Jews his company robbed during the
Holocaust, a citizens' initiative was founded in Bremen. The Bremen editorial team of
Die Tagezeitung launched an initiative in 2015 in close coordination with the Jewish community of Bremen and against resistance of political officials. The initiative wanted the company to commemorate its crimes between 1933 and 1945 with a memorial in front of its newly built headquarters. The core of the conflict was how close the memorial could be to the headquarters. Finally in 2022 a memorial on public ground, 150m from Kuehne + Nagel was inaugurated on the shore of the
Weser River. ==Organization==