6 October 2026 – Two giants are joining forces. Global players Kühne+Nagel and Amazon have agreed on a strategic partnership. The Swiss logistics provider will handle logistics worldwide for the US company’s construction and expansion of data centres. In return, Amazon will receive an option to acquire K+N shares.
The US company’s objective: to make the infrastructure behind the world’s largest cloud network, Amazon Web Services (AWS), even more secure and powerful. That is the official wording used by the Swiss logistics provider. But there is another story behind the story: The strategic logic of the deal goes beyond securing logistics capacity for AWS. Amazon gains access to Kühne+Nagel’s global network while simultaneously acquiring a potential foothold in one of the world’s largest logistics companies. K+N, meanwhile, secures a powerful long-term customer and benefits from the growth of data-centre infrastructure. The strategic trade-off is clear: more business and scale for K+N, but potentially greater dependence on a technology company whose own logistics ambitions are expanding.
Anyone watching how aggressively Amazon has been pushing into the European market for years with its own logistics centres and fulfilment operations has to suspect a strategy reminiscent of the Trojan Horse: We give you long-term contracts as a gift, and sooner or later, we become part of your logistics operation.
DATA SOVEREIGNTY COMES FROM INDEPENDENCE
“The partnership between Kuehne+Nagel, Amazon and AWS makes an important contribution to the resilience, scalability and efficiency of supply chains for global cloud infrastructures and thereby supports further growth in this sector,” says Stefan Paul, CEO of Kuehne+Nagel International AG, in the company’s carefully worded public statement. But that is only one side of the deal.
The way the US giant deals with sceptics and critics can be seen in projects such as the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. The new, independent cloud for Europe is “fully located within the European Union (EU)” and is intended to help customers “meet even the strictest requirements for digital sovereignty,” according to the company.
CONTROL OVER DATA AND PROCESSES
Smoke and mirrors? “It is not enough for the server to be located in Germany or Europe,” says Oleksii Milovanov, Director of Operations & Development at SAE. “Data sovereignty comes from a combination of data control, transparency, security, interoperability and the lowest possible dependence on individual technology providers.”
LogWorld was designed around these principles. The new IT platform of System Alliance Europe was developed around the specific operational requirements of SAE and its members and implemented together with a specialized technology partner.
It enables SAE partners to collaborate across company and national borders, while its processes, governance and functionality are defined according to the requirements of the cooperation and its member companies.
“For us, digital sovereignty does not mean that every piece of technology has to be developed in-house,” explains Milovanov. “It means retaining control over our data, our processes and the strategic decisions behind the platform, while working with specialized technology providers where they add value. In the end, technology should support the entrepreneurial independence of our members rather than create a new dependency. That principle is just as important to us on the IT side as it is in our operational network.”
