Illustration: Maxime Mouysset for Bloomberg Businessweek
The Great €3 Billion Shipping Container Heist
How P&R Containers shifted from shipping to the more profitable business of simply ripping people off.
The Munich suburb of Grünwald is home to some of the richest people in Germany—old money sprinkled with a few corporate chieftains and sports stars. The place oozes respectability and discretion, with residents who appreciate neighbors who don’t ask too many questions.
It was a perfect home for P&R Containers. The company—ostensibly in the shipping business—occupies a low-slung building with oversize windows on a winding street of doctors’ offices, insurance agents and real estate brokers. It’s one of the smallest structures in the area, and behind the glass doors there’s little ostentation, just plain rooms with gray carpets and white walls.