In 1952, young Swiss entrepreneurs Mr. Roger Metzger and Mr. Hansruedi Richner, founded a freight forwarding company in Basel. Focussing initially on road transportation from Germany, activities were step by step expanded. By the mid seventies, the company had grown to a size of some 150 employees, with branch offices in Schaffhausen, Zurich and Geneva.
After the passing away of Mr. Roger Metzger in 1975, the company was led henceforth alone by the remaining founder, Mr. Hansruedi Richner.
The company moved into a new area in 1979, with the take-over of SPEDAG SPEDITIONS AG, another Basel-based freight forwarding company established in 1928, with branch offices in Rotterdam, Antwerp and South Africa. Following the acquisition, the companies operated under the trade name of M+R SPEDAG GROUP.
The coming years were marked by a rapid expansion. In Switzerland, the company established itself as one of the leading enterprises in the field of transportation and logistics, specializing in particular on European Overland services, Sea- and Airfreights as well as Textile Logistics. In 1985, M+R Spedag expanded to Asia, where over the course of 20 years it grew from a small presence with offices in Hong Kong and Singapore to an Asia-wide network of own offices. 1998 saw the founding of Spedag East Africa, with operating companies in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.
After half a century of commitment to the company group, founding member Hansruedi Richner handed over the management of the company to his son, Daniel Richner. After successor arrangements were completed in 2006, Daniel Richner took over all shares of the company as well as the presidency of the group.