Kuehne + Nagel tops ranking of largest freight forwarders

Research by Transport Intelligence (Ti), contained within its latest report Global Freight Forwarding 2011, has found that Swiss-based Kuehne + Nagel (K+N) topped the ranking of the world’s largest forwarders in 2010 in terms of combined air and sea freight revenues. DHL was in second place.

Both these companies are substantially larger in size than third and fourth positioned DB Schenker and Panalpina.

Dick Armstrong, chairman of supply chain consultancy Armstrong and Associates said in an interview, that his research came to many of the same conclusions:

“We had DHL ahead of K+N in our net-earnings picture, but the leading providers are really in very heated race at the top.”

The research also found that European forwarders dominate the market, accounting for six of the top ten positions. Expeditors is the largest US freight forwarder in fifth place.

The top ten freight forwarders make up 44 percent of the total market. This share has been gradually increasing, from 40 percent in 2006, as the largest players crowd out smaller competitors. However, the market is still highly fragmented with the leader, Kuehne + Nagel, holding just under one tenth of the total.

Largest, though, does not necessarily mean the most profitable, noted Ti analysts. Expeditors enjoys this distinction with margins of over 9 percent compared with most of the largest companies operating at margins between 2-4 percent.

According to Ti’s Chief Executive, John Manners-Bell, the market will enjoy another successful year in 2011.

“Forwarders are enjoying somewhat of a golden period,” he commented. “Air and sea volumes are still growing albeit not as rapidly as last year. In addition to this, extra capacity brought on by shipping and air carriers has meant that rates have softened, meaning that forwarders’ gross margins will expand. Our research suggests that this should be by around 2 percentage points.”

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