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Schenker AG

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Schenker AG
IndustryLogistics company
PredecessorBerliner Paketfahrt- Speditions- und Lagerhaus (vormals Bartz & Co) Edit this on Wikidata
Founded1872
FounderGottfried Schenker
FateSubsidiary of DSV
Headquarters
Germany
Websitehttps://www.dbschenker.com/global
Schenker, the road, air, and sea forwarder, is a subsidiary of DSV.

Schenker AG (trading as DB Schenker) is a subsidiary of Danish logistics company DSV. The company was previously owned by German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, which acquired the subsidiary back in 2002. It comprises divisions for air, land, sea freight, and Contract Logistics.

As of April 2025, Schenker has 71,100 employees at more than 1,850 locations in over 130 countries. [1] The company's revenue was 19 billion euros in 2024.[2] Schenker serves global and local firms across several industries. Notably, Schenker manages large and complex supply chains for multinationals such as Apple,[3] Procter & Gamble,[4] Dell,[5] ASML,[6] BMW.[7]

History

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Advertisement for Schenker & Co (1925)

Gottfried Schenker founded Schenker & Co. in Vienna, Austria, in 1872.

In 1931, Schenker was acquired by the German Railways (Reichsbahn).[8] After Hitler came to power in 1933, the Nazis placed Dr. Edmund Veesenmayer, on the board.[9] During the Nazi era, the Schenker Company was "one of the most important enterprises engaged in pillage and plunder during German aggressions and mass crimes throughout Europe in the period from 1938 to 1945."[10][11]

A Schenker truck, bearing the Stinnes Logistics logo

The Schenker papers, which recorded shipping via Schenker of Nazi looted art, were discovered by British Monuments Man Douglas Cooper and enabled researchers to track down some of the artworks stolen from Jews during the Holocaust.[12][13]

In 1991, Stinnes AG, a logistics group owned by VEBA (now E.ON), purchased Schenker from Deutsche Bahn. In 1997, Schenker underwent a significant restructuring, divested its bulk cargo business and purchased the Swedish company BTL-AB.[14][15] In 2003, however, Schenker once again became a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, when DB acquired Stinnes AG from E.ON.

Deutsche Bahn ownership, 2003–2024

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In his biography, then CEO of Deutsche Bahn Hartmut Mehdorn justified the acquisition of international logistics companies with customer demand. In 2000, analysis had shown the 200 largest customers shipped up to 60% of their freight abroad.[16] Since the core operating territory had been Germany, customers were lost to competitors with a more compelling international offer. There was no time to grow organically in such markets.[17] This analysis led to the acquisition of Stinnes AG and the associated brand name Schenker.

On 31 January 2006, DB Logistics acquired BAX Global for $1.1 billion. Following the acquisition and integration of BAX Global, Spain-Tir and S.C. Romtrans S.A., DB Schenker became a leading European logistics player and the main freight logistics subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, combining all transport and logistic activities of Deutsche Bahn except rail cargo.[14]

In 2010, DB Schenker opened a major new intermodal transport hub in Salzburg.[18]

Since 2016, the UK operation has operated under the DB Cargo UK brand name. DB Schenker became the biggest freight operator in the United Kingdom, and also operates the British Royal Train used by the Royal Family.[19]

In 2021, DB Schenker cooperated with logistics startup Volocopter to introduce heavy-lift drones.[20][21]

In 2021, the company launched Schenker Ventures, its own venture capital arm to invest in innovation in the logistics industry.[22][23] Schenker Ventures announced its first investment in German logistics startup Warehousing1.[24][25][26]

In November 2021, DB Schenker announced a partnership with Swedish electric commercial vehicle manufacturer Volta Trucks after having signed a pre-order of 1,500 Volta Zero vehicles.[27]

DSV ownership, 2024–present

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By 2022, DB Schenker accounted for more than a third of Deutsche Bahn's sales.[28] In December 2022, the supervisory board of Deutsche Bahn instructed the company's management to prepare for the possible sale of up to 100% of DB Schenker.[29] In December 2023, Deutsche Bahn eventually launched the sales process.[30] By early 2024, at least seven companies had made non-binding offers for DB Schenker.[31] In September 2024, DSV agreed terms to purchase DB Schenker for €14.3 billion.[32][33]

In April 2025, DSV got the final approvals for the acquisitions. The acquisition was finalized April 30, 2025.[34][35]

Special tasks

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Controversies

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  • In September 2015, then and current CEO Jochen Thewes slapped and pushed a cab driver, who refused to pick up a drunken Thewes, in downtown Singapore. He also kicked the car and caused damage. Thewes was eventually sentenced to a fine of S$1000 and two weeks of jailtime in Singapore.[38]
  • In 2016, DB Schenker was convicted for consecutive cases of corruption in St Petersburg, Russia, bribing local customs officials from 2010 to mid-2012. At the time, DB Schenker involved a Russian agency for enabling the rapid flow of shipments to carmaker Ford's St Petersburg facility. DB Schenker had to pay a penalty of €2m.[39]
  • In 2020, DB Schenker was accused of unfair price dumping during the COVID-19 pandemic and related market turbulences. Allegedly, it was using its status as a state-owned company (as subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn) to request prices from subcontractors below their production costs for some European land routes via the freight exchange Timocom.[40] The company rejected the allegations, pointing out that it has no insights in pricing strategies and production costs of subcontractors. However, it announced it would temporarily refrain from using fixed prices for transports published via freight exchanges.[41]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Deutsche Bahn completes sale of logistics subsidiary DB Schenker to DSV". www.deutschebahn.com. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  2. ^ Times, STAT (2025-03-27). "DB Schenker 2024 revenue at €19.2bn". www.stattimes.com. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  3. ^ "DB Schenker to manage new Apple distribution centre in India - Lloyd's Loading List". www.lloydsloadinglist.com. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  4. ^ "Procter & Gamble is latest to take over Inland warehouse, shifting 500-plus Schenker staff". Press Enterprise. 2019-03-04. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  5. ^ "Hoxton Park Grand Opening". DB Schenker. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  6. ^ "Grand Opening of ASML's TSS Center operated by DB Schenker". DB Schenker. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  7. ^ "DB befördert 2016 über 40.000 Container zwischen China und Deutschland". DB Schenker (in German). Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  8. ^ "The History Behind the Leading Logistics Provider". DB Schenker. Archived from the original on 2017-06-21. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  9. ^ "Lawsuit Over Schiele Drawing Has Legs". Observer. 2007-02-19. Archived from the original on 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2021-05-06. . In 1931, the German National Railway secretly acquired Schenker under the guise of a Zurich holding company in order to avoid paying further World War I reparations to the Allies. As a result of the takeover, central management of the company moved from Vienna to Berlin. Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, and by 1935 the company was under a new, more sinister management. The Nazi leadership forced the appointment of Dr. Edmund Veesenmayer to the company's board. A talented economist, he was also an SS member trusted by the German leadership with establishing local Nazi groups in Vienna before the 1938 Anschluss.
  10. ^ "The Schenker Papers". GERMAN-FOREIGN-POLICY.com. 8 May 2016. Archived from the original on 2019-09-05. Retrieved 2021-05-06. The Schenker Company had been one of the most important enterprises engaged in pillage and plunder during German aggressions and mass crimes throughout Europe in the period from 1938 to 1945. This German mega-company has been - and remains - state-owned. Today, operating under the name "DB Schenker," it is a branch of the Deutsche Bahn (DB, the German Railway Company) and is under the authority of the German Ministry of Transport.
  11. ^ Kelly Diane, Walton. "Leave No Stone Unturned: The Search for Art Stolen by the Nazis and the Legal Rules Governing Restitution of Stolen Art". Archived from the original on 2020-03-22. The Schenker papers contained information about legal and illegal transactions from 1941 to 1944, descriptions of artworks sent to the Reich, lists of German buyers as well as the French dealers involved, and dates.94 The report reproduces records and documents seized from the Paris offices of Schenker International Transport. German buyers and the German embassy hired Schenker to warehouse, pack, and transport confiscated art to Germany.95
  12. ^ Hector, Feliciano (12 May 1997). The lost museum : the Nazi conspiracy to steal the world's greatest works of art, cop. 1997. Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. pp. 128–129. ISBN 0-465-04194-9. OCLC 751125079.
  13. ^ Grimsted, Patricia Kennedy. "RECONSTRUCTING THE RECORD OF NAZI CULTURAL PLUNDER A Guide to the Dispersed Archives of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) and the Postward Retrieval of ERR Loot" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-12-31. AMG 246: "Looting France" – Copy of report "Purchases of Works of Art in France (Schenker Papers, Part 2)"; – copy of report "Accessions to German Museums… (Schenker Papers, Part 1)" [Douglas Cooper et al.];
  14. ^ a b "Our Company History | Our Story". DB SCHENKER. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  15. ^ Staff, FreightWaves (1999-05-04). "BTL DELISTED FROM STOCK EXCHANGES". FreightWaves. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  16. ^ "Geschäftsbericht 2001 (p. 13)" (PDF). Deutsche Bahn IR. April 23, 2002. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  17. ^ Hartmut Mehdorn: «Diplomat wollte ich nie werden». Hoffmann und Campe, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-455-50047-9, p. 114.
  18. ^ "www.X-Rail.org". Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  19. ^ The UK's leading rail freight company announces rebrand DB Cargo UK 2 March 2016
  20. ^ "Volocopter unveils heavy-lift delivery drone at ITS World Congress". 13 October 2021.
  21. ^ "DB Schenker and Volocopter launch giant delivery drone". 13 October 2021.
  22. ^ "DB Schenker announces Schenker Ventures for entrepreneurship in logistics". 7 August 2021.
  23. ^ "DB Schenker aims to help start-ups through new business unit". 5 August 2021.
  24. ^ "Berlin-based Warehousing1 snaps up multi-million euro seed funding extension". 26 March 2020.
  25. ^ "Warehousing1 - Ihr Partner für Fulfillment und Lager".
  26. ^ "Meet Warehousing1, the Berlin startup which housed in €10 million to expand fulfilment network in Europe". 7 April 2022.
  27. ^ "DB Schenker announces a new partnership with Volta Trucks to accelerate the transition to an all-electric urban vehicle fleet" (Press release). Essen, Germany: DB Schenker 2021-11-30. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  28. ^ Markus Wacket and Emma-Victoria Farr (8 December 2022), Exclusive: Deutsche Bahn seeks approval for preparation of Schenker sale - sources Reuters.
  29. ^ Madeline Chambers (15 December 2022), Deutsche Bahn supervisory board approves preparations for Schenker sale Reuters.
  30. ^ Markus Wacket (19 December 2023), Deutsche Bahn launches sales process for logistics arm DB Schenker Reuters.
  31. ^ Klaus Lauer (27 March 2024), Up to 10 companies bid for Deutsche Bahn's Schenker, Handelsblatt reports Reuters.
  32. ^ Jacobsen, Stine; Gronholt-Pedersen, Jacob; More, Rachel (13 September 2024). "DSV to create global logistics giant with $15.9 bln Schenker takeover". Reuters.
  33. ^ DSV to acquire DB Schenker Daily Cargo News 16 September 2024
  34. ^ Weedy, Simon (2025-04-15). "Final hurdle cleared for DSV's takeover of DB Schenker". Project Cargo Journal. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
  35. ^ "DSV and Schenker have joined forces | DSV". www.dsv.com. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  36. ^ Botschafter des Friedens mit Schenker nach Nordkorea Archived 2008-12-23 at the Wayback Machine
  37. ^ „Ein Geschäftsführer kann die Oberbürgermeisterin auch mal an einem Sonntag anrufen“, Wirtschaftswoche, September 2021 (German)
  38. ^ "CEO gets jail for slapping cabby". The Straits Times. 2016-09-15. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  39. ^ "DB Schenker Convicted of Bribery". CargoForwarder Global. 2016-11-06. Retrieved 2019-05-06.
  40. ^ Rathmann, Matthias (2020-04-08). "Frachten weiter unter Druck: DB Schenker lockt mit Billigpreisen". Eurotransport (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  41. ^ Rathmann, Matthias (2020-05-17). "Nach der Kritik an Billigfrachten: DB Schenker macht keine Fixpreise mehr". Eurotransport (in German). Retrieved 2020-10-23.
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