Kalmar

Kalmar’s history can be traced back to the 1940s, when the first straddle carrier for industrial application was built in Härmälä, near Tampere, Finland. After WWII, Valtion Metallitehtaat (State Metal Factories), which had previously focused on manufacturing and maintaining aircraft and locomotives, was renamed Valmet in 1951. As a part of the war reparations paid by Finland to the Soviet Union in the 1950s, Valmet's Härmälä factory received an order for 500 lumber carriers, which was an early precursor of the container straddle carrier that would eventually dominate the global logistics industry.

The origins of forklifts can be traced back to Sweden's Småland region, where in 1949, the first forklift for use at a local sawmill was built in a small workshop in the town of Lidhult. Lidhults Mekaniska Verkstad (LMV) began serial production in 1952, and it later expanded into port operations, introducing a patented solution that equipped trucks with six wheels on each axle instead of the usual four.

Kalmar's line of terminal tractors originated in the town of Ottawa, Kansas, in the central United States, where Ottawa Steel introduced the world's first terminal tractor in 1958 for moving trailers in ports, terminals, warehouses, and distribution facilities.

By the 1970s, containerisation had begun to reshape the global logistics industry. In Finland, Valmet introduced its first prototypes for container straddle carriers in 1976. Evolving into the Kalmar Classic Straddle Carrier, over 2,500 units were delivered over the following four decades, with many still operational today.

Kalmar introduced the first electric forklift in 1980.

In 1974, LMV was acquired by the state-owned company Kalmar Verkstad AB, which, a year later, acquired Ljungbytruck. Together, the companies, now called Kalmar LMV, were able to compete on an equal footing with leading US-based manufacturers. Throughout the 1980s, Kalmar LMV experienced consistent growth in international markets, and by the mid-decade, it had sales and service in over 50 countries and produced an unrivalled range of counterweight trucks. Following the company's growth and several ownership changes, it was renamed Kalmar Industries and listed on the Stockholm stock exchange in 1994.

In 1985, Kalmar completed the first prototype reachstacker, with commercial deliveries beginning the following year. This versatile machine would become a mainstay in the global logistics industry, with each generation of machines expanding its handling capacity.

In the 1990s, several mergers and acquisitions laid the groundwork for today's Kalmar, a global entity weaving together industrial legacies from Sweden, Finland, and the USA. In 1994, the Finnish state-owned corporation Sisu acquired Ottawa Trucks, as well as Valmet's material handling business. In 1997, Finland-based Partek, in turn, acquired Sisu Terminal Systems along with a majority share in Kalmar Industries, merging the two companies. By 2000, Kalmar Industries had become fully owned by the Finnish Partek and was delisted from the Stockholm stock exchange.

In 2010, Cargotec opened an assembly facility in Stargard, Poland. The manufacturing of straddle carriers, reachstackers and empty container handlers was relocated from Lidhult to Stargard in 2013, with forklift trucks soon following.

Since introducing the first electric forklift in 1980, Kalmar has been a pioneer in the industry. Kalmar launched its fully electric portfolio in 2021, consisting of a wide range of material handling equipment from electric reachstacker to heavy, medium, and light forklifts, terminal tractors as well as straddle carriers.

Kalmar was listed on Nasdaq Helsinki on 1 July 2024, following the demerger from Cargotec.