Kalmar Industries

Kalmar is a commercial brand for heavy material-handling equipment, services and automation. Its offering includes terminal tractors, reachstackers, forklift trucks, empty container handlers, straddle carriers and crane spreaders. The company also provides parts, maintenance, lifecycle services, automation and robotics. Its equipment and services are used in ports and terminals, distribution centres, manufacturing and heavy logistics, as well as sectors including forestry, metal and wind. Kalmar describes its role as moving heavy materials in critical supply chains around the world and presents safety, productivity and sustainability as central customer priorities. The brand’s industrial roots span several countries and predecessor businesses. The official history traces early straddle-carrier development to Finland in the 1940s, forklift production in Sweden from 1949, and the first terminal tractor for port and distribution use to Ottawa, Kansas, in 1958. The Swedish Wikipedia account identifies Kalmar Industries AB as a former Swedish truck manufacturer and recounts the consolidation of Swedish forklift businesses into Kalmar LMV, followed by the formation of Kalmar Industries as a subsidiary of ABB in 1990. It says the company was publicly listed in Stockholm from 1994 to 2000, became wholly owned by Partek in 2000, and later became part of the material-handling business that formed Cargotec in 2005. The same source says that since 2013 Kalmar has been the brand for Cargotec’s material-handling equipment range and the name of its related division. The supplied current official website presents Kalmar as an operating brand with a global service network of more than 1,400 technicians and equipment, services, automation and robotics offerings. The evidence does not establish Kalmar’s present parent-company or listed-company status, so those details are left unspecified here.

Kalmar’s history is an accumulation of industrial equipment businesses and technologies rather than a single origin point. The company’s official history traces the development of straddle carriers to Härmälä, near Tampere, Finland. In the 1940s, the first straddle carrier for industrial application was built there. After the Second World War, the State Metal Factories, which had previously manufactured and maintained aircraft and locomotives, was renamed Valmet in 1951. In the 1950s, Valmet’s Härmälä factory received an order for 500 lumber carriers as part of Finland’s war reparations to the Soviet Union. The official account describes those carriers as an early precursor to container straddle carriers. A separate line of the company’s industrial heritage began in Lidhult, in Sweden’s Småland region. A small workshop built a forklift for a local sawmill in 1949. Lidhults Mekaniska Verkstad (LMV) began serial production in 1952 and later expanded into port operations. Kalmar’s official history also locates the origins of its terminal-tractor line in Ottawa, Kansas: Ottawa Steel built what the company describes as the world’s first terminal tractor in 1958 for moving trailers in ports, terminals, warehouses and distribution facilities. The Swedish Wikipedia account adds that heavy forklift production began around 1959 at Br. Anderssons Mekaniska Verkstad, a business founded by brothers Rune, Holger and Sture Andersson at the Bäck farm outside Ljungby under the name Ljungbytruck. In the 1970s, the business was sold to Kalmar Verkstad and merged with LMV to form Kalmar LMV. Kalmar Verkstad was acquired by ABB in 1990, and Kalmar Industries was established as an ABB subsidiary for truck manufacturing. The company was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange from 1994 to 2000, according to that account. Ownership and organisational structure changed again in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Partek acquired a majority stake in Kalmar Industries in 1997 and became its sole owner in 2000. The business was then coordinated with Partek’s other material-handling operations, which included activities associated with Valmet, Ottawa Trucks, Sisu and the Dutch company Nelson BV. Kone acquired Partek in 2002. In 2005, Kone was divided and Cargotec was formed for the material-handling business. The Swedish Wikipedia account says that since 2013 Kalmar has been the brand for Cargotec’s material-handling equipment range and the name of the corresponding division. It lists products including reachstackers, forklifts, straddle carriers, terminal tractors, rail-mounted gantry cranes and rubber-tyred gantry cranes. It also notes that Bromma Conquip AB, a Swedish maker of container spreaders, belongs within the business but operates under its own brand. Kalmar’s Swedish Lidhult manufacturing operation closed in 2018, with production moved to Stargard, Poland, according to the same source. In the supplied current official website, Kalmar presents itself as a provider of equipment, parts and services, automation and robotics for global material handling. The homepage describes a worldwide service network of more than 1,400 technicians. Its current materials emphasise supporting customers in ports, terminals, distribution, manufacturing and heavy logistics while helping them improve safety, sustainability and productivity. The supplied evidence does not establish the current legal parent, ownership or listed status, so no present-day corporate relationship is asserted here.

• 2018

  Lidhult manufacturing closes and production moves to Stargard

• 2013

  Kalmar becomes the material-handling brand

• 2005

  Cargotec formed for material-handling operations

• 2002

  Kone acquires Partek

• 2000

  Partek becomes sole owner

• 1997

  Partek acquires a majority stake

• 1994

  Stockholm listing begins

• 1990

  Kalmar Industries established as an ABB subsidiary

• 1959

  Heavy forklift production begins near Ljungby

• 1958

  Ottawa Steel builds an early terminal tractor

• 1952

  LMV begins serial forklift production

• 1951

  State Metal Factories renamed Valmet

• 1949

  Forklift built in Lidhult, Sweden

• 1940

  Early industrial straddle carrier built in Finland

A global heavy material-handling equipment and services provider focused on improving customer safety, productivity and sustainability across critical supply chains.

• Terminal tractors

  Vehicles for moving trailers in ports, terminals, distribution facilities and other logistics operations.

• Reachstackers

  Heavy material-handling equipment included in Kalmar’s equipment range.

• Forklift trucks

  Forklifts for port, industrial and heavy material-handling applications.

• Empty container handlers

  Equipment for handling empty shipping containers.

• Straddle carriers

  Material-handling equipment used in container and industrial operations.

• Crane spreaders

  Equipment used for container handling.

• Parts and services

  Parts, maintenance and lifecycle services intended to support equipment uptime.

• Automation and robotics

  Solutions intended to improve performance, safety and sustainability.

• Lidhult manufacturing discontinuedOther

1. 1Kalmar, making every move countkalmarglobal.com
2. 2Kalmar's history extends back almost a centurykalmarglobal.com
3. 3Industrieskalmarglobal.com
4. 4This is Kalmarkalmarglobal.com
5. 5Kalmar Industriessv.wikipedia.org
6. 6Kalmar Industrieswikidata.org