Our story · since 1997
From a Swiss procurement desk to a global logistics group.
CSA Group started with one job: get our clients the best ocean freight terms in the market. Three decades later, the scope, scale and footprint have all grown but the standard of excellence remains.
Roots in procurement
Built around one job - done better than anyone else.
CSA (formerly Commodity Supplies) was founded in Wollerau, Switzerland, with a single, concentrated mandate: negotiate and manage ocean freight contracts on behalf of the world's most demanding shippers. Carrier-neutral. Shipper-aligned. Run by people who knew the market end-to-end.
From the first contract, the operating principle was simple: sit on the client's side of the table, take ownership of the complexity, and deliver as if the cargo were our own. That conviction is still how every brand in the group is run today.
Growth by reputation
Our growth story is organic. The book grew because clients told other clients - and because once they joined, they stayed.
The scope grew
Clients kept asking for more, so we kept building.
Trusted clients are the most honest product roadmap a service business can have. As relationships deepened, the questions changed: can you also handle the booking? The exception management? The destination operations? The platform?
Each new capability was built because a client needed it — not to plant a flag. Forwarding execution stood up alongside procurement. A control tower formed to give shippers one command desk across every lane. And the internal software that ran it all became Cargoo — now connected to carriers responsible for 98% of global container capacity.
The book today includes some of the most demanding multinationals in the world. They describe the relationship in almost the same words our first clients used in 1998.
The footprint grew
Each office opened to be closer to a client, a port, or both.
Miami in 2007. Singapore in 2012. São Paulo in 2013. Hamburg in 2014. Shanghai in 2019. Ho Chi Minh in 2022. Zurich in 2026. Seventeen offices today, spanning origin and destination across every major trade lane.
The footprint follows the cargo, not a map. Local teams at the ports that load it, local teams at the markets that receive it — and a single quality standard between them.
Building a global footprint
Three decades of growing scale, scope and trust.
- 1997WollerauWollerauFounded as an ocean freight procurement specialist for global shippers.
- 2007MiamiMiamiAmericas desk opens — first office outside Switzerland.
- 2010——Annual freight handled crosses CHF 100 million.
- 2012SingaporeSingaporeRepresentative office for Asia-Pacific.
- 2013São PauloSão PauloBrazil office opens at origin.
- 2014HamburgHamburgEuropean destination hub established.
- 2019ShanghaiShanghaiChina entity opens — scope widens beyond procurement into forwarding.
- 2022Ho Chi MinhHo Chi MinhVietnam desk opens · annual freight handled crosses CHF 1 billion.
- 2023WollerauWollerauCargoo spun out as an independent platform company.
- 2026ZurichZurichNew Zurich office · CSA Group banner launches across four brands.
Seventeen offices. One service standard.
CSA Group · Supply Chain as a service
Four interconnected capabilities. One service standard.
CSA Group operates a full-service portfolio of companies covering the end-to-end needs of any client requiring logistics management. Operational teams and data are independent when clients want individual services. For clients bundling multiple services and the platform, we promise a single point of contact for accountability and a seamless experience flow.
Cargoo
The platform that powers Procure, Plan, Execute & Control — standalone, or behind any CSA service.
CSA Control Tower
End-to-end visibility and exception resolution — teams on the ground, standardised quality, Cargoo handling live ocean freight.
CSA Procurement
Three decades of freight market intelligence, pooled volumes and best-negotiated carrier terms.
CSA Global Logistics
Local teams in every key trading country. One contact, complete peace of mind.
Together: Supply Chain as a Service. One relationship, every capability, no gaps.