Kuehne+Nagel 9 months turnover up 47% on freight growth

October 20, 2021: Kuehne+Nagel Group, one of the world's leading logistics companies based in Switzerland, reported a net turnover of CHF 21.8 billion for the first nine months of 2021, an increase of 47 percent from CHF 14.8 billion in the first nine months of 2020.

Kuehne+Nagel reported strong global demand for transport services, high service intensity for unpredictable supply chains, and is expecting constrained market situations to continue in the coming months.

“All business units were able to exceed their prior-year results, in some cases significantly. EBIT more than doubled to over CHF 1.8 billion," the statement said.

"In the current situation with supply chains that are difficult to plan, our Kuehne+Nagel experts are working tirelessly to implement the best possible logistics solutions for our customers," Dr. Detlef Trefzger, CEO of Kuehne + Nagel International AG, said. "We are on track and were again able to achieve an excellent business result in the third quarter. In the coming months, we do not expect any significant change in the constrained market situation."

Sea logistics shines
Net turnover from sea logistics increased 78 percent to CHF 9.1 billion for the first nine months of 2021 from CHF 5.1 billion during the same period of 2020. During the third quarter of 2021, turnover zoomed 120 percent to CHF 3.9 billion from CHF 1.7 billion.

Gross profit was up 80 percent at CHF 1.9 billion for the first nine months and up 114 percent at CHF 809 million for the third quarter of 2021.

"In the third quarter of 2021, the challenging market environment for sea logistics with congested ports and supply chains out of sync required a particularly high level of support and resultant lower logistics productivity. The business unit continued to focus on the transport of goods with complex requirements. At 3.4 million TEU, container volumes in the first nine months of 2021 were slightly above the prior-year period."

K+N sea logistics will handle the offshore logistics for Siemens Energy's Chilean Haru Oni project - the world's first commercial hydrogen production plant for synthetic fuels.

Air logistics does well
K+N reported a 78 percent increase in air logistics turnover to CHF 6.6 billion for the first nine months of 2021 from CHF 3.7 billion during the corresponding period of 2020 on strong volume growth.

Air freight volumes during the first nine months of 2021 were around 50% higher than in the same period of the previous year at 1.6 million tonnes of which around 20 percent is attributable to the acquisition of the Chinese air freight forwarder Apex, K+N said.

“With strong volume growth, air logistics once again posted market share gains in the third quarter of 2021,” the statement said. “Globally limited cargo capacities required tailor-made customer solutions. Services for pharma and essential goods as well as e-commerce continued to be in high demand.”

K+N expanded QuickSTAT, the global network for time-critical pharmaceutical shipments, with a new control tower in Singapore.

Road logistics business reported a significant increase in shipment volume in the third quarter of 2021. The unit’s net turnover for the first nine months of 2021 was CHF 2.7 billion and EBIT increased 97 percent to CHF 75 million. eTrucknow, the digital booking platform for land freight, which was focused primarily on Asia is being rolled out worldwide and is now available in over 20 countries.

The contract logistics business reported very high capacity utilisation, particularly in North America, K+N said. "High order intake was once again recorded in the e-commerce fulfilment and pharma sectors." K+N is also expanding an existing temperature-controlled distribution centre in Belgium to a total of 25,000 sq.m.