Higher airfreight volumes boost Kuehne+Nagel’s Q3 profits

Switzerland-based transport and logistics services provider Kuehne+Nagel reported that its third-quarter gross profits for air logistics were up 93% year over year to $739 million due to higher airfreight volumes. [caption id="attachment_90305" align="alignright" width="450"] KN PharmaChain Cool Dollies at Johannesburg Airport. Photo courtesy of Kuehne+Nagel[/caption] In the first nine months of 2021, the company’s airfreight volumes were at 1.6 million tonnes — around 50% higher than the same period in 2020 — which the company attributed to the $1.5 billion acquisition of Chinese freight forwarder Apex during today’s earnings call. Net turnover in the air logistics division rose $2.8 billion YoY and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) was $260 million YoY, an increase of 41%. Severe logistic issues across all freight transportation were the leading topic on the call with only estimates as to when the industry would “normalize.” “The current market situation and capacity constraints are also expected to persist longer or beyond Lunar New Year 2022,” Detlef Trefzger, chief executive officer at Kuehne+Nagel, said on the call. “ From today's perspective we do not see a major change during the next six to 12 months, and whatever is changing will not be a radical change but a gradual, hopefully, normalization. “But for the time being, we expect an even worsening of the market situation and capacity, and that is unfortunately what we see at the moment, especially at the West Coast in the U.S.,” Trefzger added. Kuehne+Nagel will continue to focus its mergers and acquisitions strategy on expansions in Asia, Chief Financial Officer Markus Blanka said during the call. “ We have also been very successful with the Apex acquisition in our footprint development in Asia and I think we can expect that we are continuing that path in Asia,” Blanka said, though likely not with another acquisition similar to Apex . “ Obviously there is going to be other focus areas , that is going to increase and solidify our footprint in Asia .” The company also said that its QuickSTAT subsidiary for time-critical pharmaceutical shipments expanded with a new control tower in Singapore. Shares of Kuehne+Nagel [SWX: KNIN] closed 3.1% lower at CHF288.60. The logistics company has a market capitalization of CHF35.82 billion .

Higher airfreight volumes boost Kuehne+Nagel’s Q3 profits

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