Supply Chain · Profile from Supply Chain Research Companion
Kuehne+Nagel
Kuehne + Nagel International AG, the Swiss-domiciled, family-controlled freight forwarder founded in Bremen in 1890, which by most rankings is the world's largest sea-freight forwarder and one of the three largest air forwarders while owning almost none of the ships and aircraft that carry its cargo. It reported net turnover of ~CHF 24.5bn, EBIT of ~CHF 1.4bn and earnings of ~CHF 925m (−25%) for 2025 (company ad hoc release, 3 Mar 2026; EBIT is recurring — reported EBIT CHF 1,242m), then a sharp 2026 recovery: Q3 2026 net turnover ~CHF 7.4bn (+22%), EBIT ~CHF 435m (+53%) and full-year recurring EBIT guidance raised for the third time to CHF 1.5–1.6bn (company, Oct 2026, reported). Its story turns on selling space it does not own: the profit of a forwarder is the spread between what it pays carriers and what it charges shippers, multiplied by volume and divided by the people and systems needed to handle it. Kuehne+Nagel built that model under one controlling owner, Klaus-Michael Kühne, for six decades; he died on 24 Aug 2026 aged 89, holding ~53% of the company through Kühne Holding (reported). Its failures include the earnings collapse after the 2021–22 windfall, a weak first half of the 2020s in road and contract logistics, and an unresolved reckoning with its conduct in the Nazi era. In the US — the market this knowledge base leads with — it is a large customs broker, air forwarder and contract-logistics operator built largely by acquisition (USCO in 2001, Quick International in 2018), competing with Expeditors, C.H. Robinson and an enlarged DSV.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1890, Bremen, Germany, by August Kühne and Friedrich Nagel as a forwarding agency for cotton and general cargo (company history, widely repeated)
- Headquarters
- Schindellegi (Feusisberg), canton of Schwyz, Switzerland; the group moved its domicile to Switzerland in the 1970s (1975 per company histories, verify)
- Ownership / structure
- Listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker KNIN); listed since 1994 (verify); Kühne Holding AG ~53.3% at Klaus-Michael Kühne's death in Aug 2026 (reported), expected to pass to the Kühne Foundation (Kühne-Stiftung) (reported; transfer not confirmed at Nov 2026)
- Leadership (2026)
- Stefan Paul, CEO since 1 Aug 2022 (previously Executive Vice President Road Logistics and Sales; succeeded Detlef Trefzger, who stepped down for personal reasons) (company, reported); board chaired by Jörg Wolle (verify current chair); Klaus-Michael Kühne was honorary chairman until his death
- Segments
- Sea Logistics; Air Logistics; Road Logistics; Contract Logistics (company reporting; the company has reorganised its customer-facing structure under its "Roadmap 2026" programme, verify current segment names)
- Scale
- ~70,000–80,000 employees in ~100 countries (company claim, verify current count); world's largest sea forwarder by TEU and a top-three air forwarder by tonnage in most industry rankings (verify current rank)
- Financials
- 2025: net turnover ~CHF 24.5bn; recurring EBIT ~CHF 1.4bn (reported EBIT CHF 1,242m); earnings ~CHF 925m (−25%) (company). Q3 2026: net turnover ~CHF 7.4bn (+22%); EBIT ~CHF 435m (+53%); net income ~CHF 316m (+53%); conversion rate (EBIT ÷ gross profit) ~18.2%; Air EBIT ~CHF 169m (+84%), Sea ~CHF 172m (+55%), Road ~CHF 28m (from ~CHF 20m), Contract Logistics ~CHF 66m (+7%) (company via Keystone-SDA, dpa and trade press, reported)
- Revenue basis
- Gross: "net turnover" still includes the carriers' freight charges Kuehne+Nagel resells (it excludes customs duties and taxes collected for clients, verify definition); the comparable measure to an asset carrier's margin is gross profit (net turnover minus purchased services), and the efficiency measure is the conversion rate (EBIT ÷ gross profit)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding in Bremen (1890); listing and the asset-light sea-forwarding model (1994); USCO and US contract logistics (2001); Quick International and US time-critical logistics (2018); the pandemic windfall (2020–22); Apex (2021); CEO change Trefzger → Paul (2022); normalisation and the earnings slide (2023–25, failure of boom earnings); cost programme and the tariff-era recovery (2025–26); Klaus-Michael Kühne's death and the foundation's control (2026)
10 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1890
Founding in Bremen
Founding
1994
Listing and Asset Light Sea Logistics
Spin-off or IPO; strategy pivot (focus on asset-light sea and air forwarding)
2001
USCO and US Contract Logistics
Acquisition or merger
2018
Quick International US Time Critical
Acquisition or merger
2021
Apex Acquisition
Acquisition or merger
2021
Pandemic Windfall
Disruption and response
2022
CEO Change Trefzger to Paul
Leadership succession
2023
Normalisation and Earnings Slide
Restructuring (response to the end of the windfall) — failure of boom earnings, and a slow cost response
2025
Cost Programme and Tariff Era Recovery
Restructuring (cost programme); pricing or service change (customs and air in the tariff and disruption era)
2026
Death of Klaus Michael Kuehne
Ownership change (succession of the controlling shareholder)