History
In 1976, Leif Tullberg and nine independent haulers established DSV, an initialism for "De Sammensluttede Vognmænd af 13-7 1976 A/S" (The Joint Hauliers of 13-7 1976).[3] Leif Tullberg remained CEO until his retirement in 2005.
He was succeeded by Kurt Larsen who became chairman of the board of directors in 2008 when Jens Bjørn Andersen took over as CEO.
During the first decade the company mainly functioned as a cartage department for the owners, handling contract haulage and deliveries.[3]
Seeking to enter the international market, DSV bought two competing export companies in 1989, Borup Autotransport A/S and Hammerbro A/S-Bech Trans, followed by buying Samson Transport Co. A/S in 1997 and Svex Group A/S in 1999.[3]
The purchase of the DFDS Dan Transport Group in 2000 provided DSV with road transport activities in Scandinavia, the UK, several Mainland European countries and the Baltics and a global network including a logistics set-up.[3] The purchase of J.H. Bachmann in 2005 reinforced the company's position within international air and sea transport.
The acquisition of the Dutch Frans Maas Group in 2006 placed DSV as a Pan-European road transport and logistics supplier and one of the three largest in Europe.[4] With the acquisition of ABX LOGISTICS in 2008, DSV entered the South American market.[3]
With the acquisition of UTi Worldwide, Inc. in 2016 and Panalpina Welttransport (Holding) AG in 2019,[1] the company became one of the world's four largest transport and logistics companies.[1]
On 1 April 2019, an acquisition agreement with Swiss Panalpina was announced valued at CHF 4.6 billion (€ 4.1 billion).[5] On 19 August 2019, DSV announced that the acquisition of Panalpina was completed.[6]
In July 2020, DSV announced its plans to invest approximately DKK 2 billion in a new logistics centre near Horsens, Europe's largest with just one leaseholder.[7]
In December 2020, DSV announced they would acquire Globeflight Worldwide Express, a South African-based courier company.[8] The deal was completed in May 2021.[9][10]
On 27 April 2021, DSV agreed terms to acquire Agility Logistics.[11] The acquisition was completed 19 August 2021.
In September 2024, DSV agreed terms to purchased DB Schenker from Deutsche Bahn for €14.3 billion. On completion of the acquisition, the combined company will become the largest freight-forwarder in the world.[12][13] The acquisition was finalized April 30, 2025.
