Kuehne+Nagel has opened a new technology centre in Chennai to build and scale the software that runs its global logistics business. The centre opened in October 2026 and is expected to have about 250 technology specialists by early 2027. Accenture is working with the company to build up the team.
Kuehne+Nagel is one of the largest logistics groups in the world. The Swiss company posted net turnover of CHF 24.5 billion for 2025, with 85,407 employees across 1,366 sites in 93 countries. Sea logistics and air logistics are its two biggest businesses, together bringing in about CHF 16 billion of that turnover.
What the centre will do
The Chennai team will develop and run technology used across the group’s worldwide operations. A central part of that work is SALOG, the company’s own digital forwarding platform for managing sea and air freight shipments around the world. The centre will also support the group’s wider set of proprietary digital logistics tools. Chief Information Officer Marcus Claesson has made the case that building core platforms in house lets the company add new features faster and roll them out across its network. Chennai adds to the group’s existing technology operations rather than replacing them.
Why Chennai
The company picked Chennai for its mature business ecosystem, its record of supporting global operations and its supply of engineering and digital talent. The city has a large base of software and engineering centres run by multinational companies, along with one of India’s busiest container ports, which gives a logistics group a natural fit between its technology work and the trade it serves.
Kuehne+Nagel’s India footprint
Kuehne+Nagel has a substantial logistics business in India, with its national head office in Gurgaon. In late 2025 it added five fulfilment centres in Gurgaon, Kolkata, Nagpur, Mumbai and Rajpura, totalling 100,000 square metres. That took its Indian fulfilment network to nearly half a million square metres and came with more than 1,500 new jobs. The Chennai centre is a different kind of investment, focused on engineering for the global group rather than on serving Indian customers.
What it signals
Freight forwarding has become a software business as much as a shipping one, and the largest forwarders now see their own platforms as a competitive edge. By building SALOG and related tools in India, Kuehne+Nagel is following a path already taken by banks and retailers that moved core engineering into Indian capability centres. Chennai, with its mix of engineering talent and trade infrastructure, is well placed to attract more logistics technology work of this kind.
At a glance
- Home country: Switzerland
- Sector: Logistics and Supply Chain
- City: Chennai
- Date: October 2026
- Status: Operational
- Scale: About 250 technology specialists expected by early 2027
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