The logistics group Kuehne+Nagel is reporting a loss for the first quarter of 2026. One of the key reasons: The sea freight business, where the crisis in the Middle East is having an significant impact.
Following the loss for the full year 2025, the Kuehne+Nagel Group has also started the current year with a decline in sales, EBITDA and profit.
As the Group announced today, net turnover amounted to CHF 5.6 billion – 12% less than in the same period of the previous year. EBIT amounted to CHF 343 million (-15%) and net profit to CHF 248 million. Here the decline was as much as 18%.
Stefan Paul, CEO of Kuehne+Nagel International AG, was nevertheless not dissatisfied when presenting the balance sheet figures: “Thanks to strict cost management, Kuehne+Nagel recorded a good start to the year in the airfreight, overland and contract logistics business units.” However, he also emphasized that the situation in the maritime business was somewhat different: Sea freight had been affected by the “short-term disruptions in the Middle East”. “We are following developments on the markets very closely, particularly with regard to rising commodity prices and the resulting consumer demand,” Paul continued.
The international network and close cooperation with customers would make it possible “to react flexibly to rapidly changing situations at all times. This expertise and the current market dynamics give us confidence for the second quarter of 2026, to which our consistent cost management also contributes,” said the CEO. Based on the result in the first quarter, Kuehne+Nagel now expects an operating EBIT in the range of CHF 1.25 to 1.40 billion for the business year 2026.
Net turnover of the Seafreight business unit amounted to CHF 1.9 billion and EBIT to CHF 113 million in the first quarter of 2026. This represents a decline of 25% and as much as 46% for these key figures. Gross profit fell sharply by 22% to CHF 449 million. The transport volume amounted to 1 million TEU at the end of March.
The situation in the Middle East led to a markedly high service intensity in the first quarter of 2026. The special character of the business in the same period of the previous year is also emphasized. Volumes in the first quarter of 2025 were “particularly strong” due to pull-forward effects on the occasion of US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day”.
Net sales in the Contract Logistics division amounted to CHF 1.2 billion and EBIT to CHF 94 million in the first quarter of 2026.
