History

The original business, Charles Kendall & Partners, was formed in December 1945. Charles ‘Bill’ Kendall, a former Army Officer, set up an office in the elegant setting of Albert Court, Kensington, looking onto the Royal Albert Hall. Our global head office remains there still.

In the late 1940s, we were appointed as procurement agents for Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and the Sultanate of Oman. Today, Charles Kendall Procurement (as it's now known), continues to act as global agent for government customers in Oman.

Until 1954, the company employed independent freight agents to handle its Middle Eastern exports. But in that year, we formed our own Shipping and Forwarding Department – the forerunner of Charles Kendall Freight.

The 1950s also saw our first moves into export packing, with the acquisition of Giles & Downton Ltd, a packing case manufacturers originally established in 1918.

The mid to late ’60s saw us acquire two further packing businesses, and in 1969 we brought all these related companies together as Charles Kendall Export Services.

We continued to expand our freight capabilities through the 1970s, acquiring and growing a number of established freight and logistics companies, with customers in Europe, North America and the Middle East.

In 1982, we combined our various transportation businesses together to form Charles Kendall Freight. Today, it is one of the world’s most respected names in freight and logistics, working closely alongside our packing specialists at Charles Kendall Packing.

In 1985, we bought the Vairon Group, an international collection of export and freight businesses that also included A&I Travel – an in-house IATA-approved travel agent that became the forerunner of our specialist events business, Altitude.

In 1991, we bought the packing company, Bestworld (now Charles Kendall Packing) – specialists in out-of-gauge bespoke packing, especially of very large equipment for heavy industry. Around two years later we bought our site at Heathrow (Feltham), now our primary packing site.

In 1997, having invested in building a team of development aid experts, we were appointed to five core country contracts for the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Since then, we have worked with all the world’s major bi-lateral development agencies, including the World Bank and European Commission. This experience was to form the foundations of a worldwide client base, and spurred our natural expansion into project management and consulting.

As the new century began, we focused on developing organic growth across the group. We opened new offices in Hong Kong (2000) and Shanghai (2001). And in 2004, Charles Kendall Procurement won major business in Iraq through the UK DFID and the US Government.

In 2006, we rebranded our business travel operator as Altitude. Today, Altitude has an international reputation for managing bespoke, often spectacular, corporate events in the UK and overseas. Exosphere was launched in 2007, offering bespoke travel consultancy to create unique holidays for private customers.

In 2008 we acquired the specialist shipping company, Redcliffe, based in Derbyshire. And in 2009, we bought the live event and exhibition logistics business, Show Carriage. Together, Altitude and Show Carriage (with occasional expert support from Exosphere) offer a complete supply chain solution for events and exhibitions.

2010 heralded a new, unified corporate identity for the group – and the creation of this website.