Forward Air more than doubles net income in Q1 despite weaker e-commerce demand

Logistics provider Forward Air, which specializes in expedited linehaul, last-mile, intermodal drayage and specialized temperature control logistics, more than doubled its net income in the first quarter of 2022. [caption id="attachment_99250" align="alignright" width="400"] Photo/Forward Air[/caption] Despite some softening of demand for home appliances and lightweight e-commerce, the Greenville, Tenn.-based company is well-positioned to withstand a decline in those market segments, thanks to a return in demand for live events and services and its increased focus on high-value, palletized freight, said President and CEO Tom Schmitt during today’s earnings call. “My sense is on the appliance side, the hyper growth you’ve seen over the past two years has been leveling off and for lightweight e-commerce, you do see a leveling off,” Schmitt said. “Those, especially light-weight e-commerce, are less relevant to us than they were a year ago. Our shift toward high-value, palletized freight makes us less vulnerable to some of those e-commerce shifts and normalizations of the home-based economy back to an events-based economy.” Medical devices, spare parts and last-mile services for home appliances are included in Forward Air’s optimistic outlook for high-value freight, said Schmitt, alongside the events business. The company will continue growing its focus on high-value less-than-truckload services for the near term, he confirmed. Forward Air’s airfreight services under the Intermodal division include airfreight breakdown, ULD build-up and cargo security screening. The company also provides track-and-trace visibility for air and ocean shipments. Revenue in the intermodal segment, which is notably smaller than Forward Air’s expedited freight segment, increased by 54.6% year over year for the quarter to $90.4 million. Expenses for Intermodal were also higher, but the segment still performed well YoY, more than doubling income from operations to $11.1 million. The Air Cargo Tech Summit, the new airfreight logistics event presented by Air Cargo World , will take place LIVE in Miami from June 6-7. Learn more and register here.

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