Schindellegi / CH, February 02, 2012 - Kuehne + Nagel announced today that is has entered into an agreement to take over the specialised Australian freight forwarder Link Logistics International Pty. Ltd. The acquisition is in line with Kuehne + Nagel's strategy to globally expand its activities in the field of perishables logistics.

Established in 1998, Link Logistics is a privately owned freight forwarder with headquarters in Melbourne and facilities in Sydney and Tasmania. Specialised in cold chain management, the company offers comprehensive services for the supply of perishable goods to hospitality and consumer markets, mainly in Asia and the Middle East. Its onsite facilities ensure integrity of products such as meat, fruit and vegetables; value added services include quality control, product grading and sorting, cooling and labelling. Link Logistics is Australia's No. 1 airfreight forwarder in relation to the export of perishables and employs 33 staff.

"We consider the acquisition of Link Logistics to be a further strategic step for the global expansion of our perishables logistics operations", said Tim Scharwath, Executive Vice President Air Logistics, Kuehne + Nagel International AG. "It will help accelerate our growth in this business segment and besides Europe we can also even better serve our customers in the Asian and Middle East perishable segments. In addition, jointly we can strengthen our position in the Australian airfreight market."

With more than 61,500 employees at 900 locations in over 100 countries, the Kuehne + Nagel Group is one of the world's leading logistics companies. Its strong market position lies in the seafreight, airfreight, contract logistics and overland businesses, with a clear focus on providing IT-based lead logistics solutions.