Air freight chief Tim Scharwath to leave Kuehne + Nagel

Kuehne + Nagel has announced that Tim Scharwath, a board member since 2011, will be stepping down from his role as executive vice president for air logistics within the next 12 months.

The reasons for his departure have not been made public.

Mr Scharwath has spent 24 years with the world’s largest sea freight and second largest air freight forwarder, holding a variety of managerial positions. His first role was as a junior IT operative in its sea freight department.

In 2007 he was appointed managing director of the company’s Netherlands operations, and in 2009 promoted to regional director North-west Europe, based in London.

In 2011 he returned to Switzerland to focus once more on air freight, the mode in which he spent most of his KN career. He was continually a strong advocate for the increased use of IT is logistics and a vocal supporter of IATA’s Cargo 2000 initiative.

Similarly, it was under his leadership that KN FreightNet solution was developed which allows air freight shippers to obtain quotes, make bookings and track shipments online. More recently the service was expanded to sea freight less-than-container-load (LCL) shippers.

A successor has yet to be named by the company.