World ACD: Top forwarders lose market share in 2015

While worldwide air cargo volume increased by about 2 percent in 2015, the latest figures from WorldACD Market Data said the top 20 freight forwarders lost some market share for the year, dropping from 44.5 percent to 43 percent in terms of revenue, and from 43 to 42 percent in terms of volume.

The Amsterdam-based market analysis firm also said the top 10 firms in its annual ranking, representing about 32 percent of the world’s cargo volume, did not change from 2014. The top five largest firms, are DHL Global Forwarding, Kuehne + Nagel, DB Schenker, Expeditors and Panalpina, the company said. Forwarders in the top 10 list saw a changes in volume that ranged from a 10 percent loss to a 7 percent rise, whereas those ranked from 11 to 20 reported volume variances ranging from a 10 percent loss and to an 11 percent rise.

The forwarders that saw growth in excess of 2 percent for the year included K+N, Expeditors, Nippon Express, CEVA and DHL Express. Those firms that fell behind include DHL-GF, DB Schenker, Panalpina, UPS, SCS and Kintetsu.

“The group of the top 100 forwarders saw growth of 0.9 percent, and the many thousands of forwarders outside the top 100, accounting for 43 per cent of total business, achieved better results, with an average growth of 3.8 per cent,” WorldACD said.

Airlines reported average yields realized through large agents fall more than the yields achieved through the group of forwarders outside the top 100 in the world.

WorldACD reported the 2015 figures, based on inputs from more than 60 air carriers that provide the company with air waybill data every month. For more information, see worldacd.com.