Kuehne + Nagel has reported air freight volumes declined by 5.8 per cent to 813,000 in the first half of the year to 30 June in a “deteriorating market environment”.
The freight forwarder said the market continued to be under pressure in an economy “characterised by growing trade barriers” and figures were also impacted by stagnating markets of some key industries.
Rival, Panalpina, last week reported a tonnage increase of five per cent in volumes to 511,700 tonnes.
However, Kuehne + Nagel said growth was achieved with industry solutions for pharmaceuticals and healthcare, as well as for perishables.
The forwarder said Quick International Courier, a time-critical transport and logistics services company for the pharma and healthcare and the aviation industries, which it acquired in November, was integrated successfully.
At CHF 174 million, EBIT was down by 4.4 per cent compared to the previous year’s period.
Overall, Kuehne + Nagel’s earnings for the period declined 1.5 per cent to CHF 384 million (US$390 million). Net turnover was though up 5.3 per cent to CHF 10.6 billion and EBITDA was up 42.9 per cent to CHF 869 million.
Kuehne + Nagel International chief executive officer, Detlef Trefzger said: “The Kuehne + Nagel Group achieved a high-level result in the first half of 2019. This was due to the consistent implementation of our strategy in all business units.
“Currently our focus is on addressing the significant changes in air freight market conditions and on continuing our restructuring activities in contract logistics.
“With our initiatives to improve our technological capabilities we will become more cost effective and improve customer service. We are well set to successfully meet the challenges of an ever-demanding market.”
