Top 25 global air freight forwarders in 2019

In a year marked by the ongoing trade war between China and the US, DHL Global Forwarding has risen to the top of the list of air freight forwarders in the world in 2019 above Kuehne + Nagel (K + N) and DB Schenker, while DSV Panalpina are in the top 4

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According to data from consultant Armstrong & Associates, the volume of air cargo recorded by the top 25 air freight forwarding companies proved how tough 2019 was, with demand dropping by 7, 8% from the previous year, to 15.4 million tons.

Earlier the forecast for the market decline was estimated at 4%.

Leading air freight forwarding company - DHL Global Forwarding - with volume decreased by 4.6% from the previous year to just over 2 million tons of cargo. This result is better than K + N and DB Schenker, in contrast to the trend seen in recent years, when the company has shown superiority over its biggest competitors in terms of growth.

Kuehne + Nagel ranked second with a decrease of 5.7% compared to 2018 to 1.6 million tons and DB Schenker decreased by 9% to 1.2 million tons.

Regarding the business results in the last year of the airfreight division, DHL Global Forwarding said in its annual report: The company's air freight volume decreased by 4.7% in 2019, mainly due to a decrease in market volume on major transport routes.

"As a consequence, airfreight revenues also declined, posting a decrease of 3.1 %. Despite the volume decline, gross profit from airfreight increased slightly by 0.7 % thanks to better margins."

DHL Global Forwarding adds that the development of the global aviation market has weakened since the second quarter of 2019.

Usually, the trend of forwarders' margins improves when the market is falling because the rates they pay carriers will fall lower.

In terms of business results in 2019, K + N said in its annual report: "In 2019, the challenging market environment and the resulting softening demand in some key industries led to a decline in [airfreight] turnover to SFr5.5bn and earnings before interest and tax (ebit) to SFr329m"

"Thanks to focusing on the expanded service portfolio and continuing the development of eTouch solutions, an optimised cost structure and the successful integration of Quick International Courier, Kuehne + Nagel’s airfreight business once again concluded a successful year".

The founder and president of Logistics Trends & Insights (LTI) - Cathy Roberson - said that this is not just a trade war between China and the United States that has boosted the growth rate of air cargo volume in the year. last.

"While the US-China trade war took centre stage, there were other trade battles that occurred throughout the world impacting commodities as steel and airplanes".

"Brexit for example, has been a concern for many shippers as well as North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) revisions that have since culminated into US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is expected go into effect on July 1".

Roberson said that certain areas are affected more than others. This will put forwarders more pressure in such markets.

"Agriculture and manufacturing were impacted the most. The uncertain global economy and increasing trade barriers were blamed by most freight forwarders for 2019 air volume declines" said Roberson.

"The automotive industry downturn seemed to have impacted the major freight forwarders in varying ways but in particular K+N, which noted that its airfreight volumes were highly exposed to the automotive and high-tech industries."

In Asia, Japanese freight forwarders also seemed to be hit hard last year.

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