On September 27, 2013, Karl Gernandt, Chairman of Kuehne + Nagel International AG, and Dr. Heiko Fischer, CEO of VTG Aktiengesellschaft, signed an agreement to merge certain rail logistics operations of the two companies. 'This joint venture under the umbrella of VTG Rail Logistics is creating a rail logistics company with a Europe-wide network of locations and completely new possibilities for transport concepts that show the way to the future. Due to the strength of the global Kuehne + Nagel network together with the comprehensive range of services, the new joint venture company is much better positioned in terms of geographical scope.

With its combined sales structure, it can also access new customer and product segments. Kuehne + Nagel will continue to collaborate closely with VTG as a partner and offer the services of the joint venture to its customers. VTG holds the majority in the joint venture.

The merger will lead to a considerable rise in the volume of business, particularly in the Industrial Goods segment. The future VTG Rail Logistics will have approx. 270 employees spread across a total of 12 countries.

Kuehne + Nagel's intermodal railway logistics operations, which the company will continue to offer and develop in its core business units, are excluded from the merger. The customers of both companies will be able to benefit from new, integrated transport concepts that will be developed to operate multimodally from northern Europe to the Bosporus and from western Europe to Russia.