27 October 2026, Auer / Hamburg – GRUBER Logistics is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. In its anniversary year of 2026, the renowned logistics service provider is also giving its customers a significant gift with the integration of Hamburg-based transport company Gruber AG.
In the 1990s, two children of founder Josef Gruber went their separate professional ways, leading to the establishment of a freight forwarding company in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg alongside the original headquarters in South Tyrol. The Hamburg-based company built its reputation primarily on multimodal transport solutions, with a particular focus on rail freight services. Now operating under the umbrella of GRUBER Logistics, the company, which was most recently owned by a group of managers, will primarily offer Brenner corridor connections between Italy and the Port of Hamburg. This further expands the logistics provider’s service portfolio in this segment, following record results recently reported in Germany.
“For us, this acquisition is more than just a market transaction. It represents the return of an important part of our company’s long history,” explains Martin Gruber, CEO of GRUBER Logistics, commenting on the integration of the Hamburg-based transport company in 2026. “When paths diverge for almost three decades, such a reunion takes on special significance for a company, even if the two businesses have continued to cross paths within the industry. It is a family story, a story about our employees and, above all, about people. It is also a story of operational collaboration, which we will now continue together under the GRUBER Logistics banner.”
From an operational perspective, the return of Gruber AG primarily strengthens the company’s expertise and capacity in intermodal transport. The Hamburg-based freight forwarder entered the multimodal transport market in 2003 with ten trailers. Today, GRUBER Logistics as a whole, including the specialist from northern Germany, handles more than 20,000 rail shipments annually for its customers along the corridor connecting northern and central Italy via the Brenner Pass with Hamburg and its major seaport.
The expanded logistics capabilities resulting from the acquisition broaden the range of services available, particularly in the field of intermodal transport. Gruber AG’s trucks, trailers and freight forwarding services have therefore already contributed, in this anniversary year, to the product offering of the long-established yet consistently innovative family business, which originated in South Tyrol and has a strong European presence. They will continue to do so in the future. Since its founding in 1936, GRUBER Logistics has consistently focused on meeting the evolving needs of its customers.
Josef Gruber (right), the company’s founder, pictured here in the 1950s, founded the renowned logistics company 90 years ago.
“Ninety years is a significant milestone. But we do not want to celebrate only what we have achieved so far. Above all, we want to highlight the ability that has accompanied us throughout these years: the courage to keep evolving,” says Martin Gruber, a third-generation member of the family at the helm of the company, describing its guiding philosophy. “My grandfather, Josef Gruber, started out transporting timber from the mountains. Today, we operate in a European market and work every day on technologies and logistics models that would have seemed out of reach just a few years ago. In my view, continuity lies precisely here: we want to be able to keep developing and moving forward without losing our identity.”
For the company’s entire German business, this approach, which is embraced throughout the organization, resulted in a record operating performance in the first half of 2026. The acquisition of the Universal Transport Group in September 2022, whose transformation processes were completed this year, was a particularly important milestone in the further development of the company’s operations in Germany.
