DHL 2010 Annual Report Download - page 78

Volume and revenue up in air and ocean freight
Our  nancial year  saw a very positive year-on-year trend in transport volumes,
especially in the air freight business, although growth in the fourth quarter was slightly
less than in the preceding quarters. Freight capacity shortages persist and as a result the
prices for transport services have increased. Overall, freight rates were high in the report-
ing year, falling only slightly in the fourth quarter.  e high prices primarily a ected
trade lanes between Asia and Europe as well as over the Paci c. In the  rst nine months
of the year, we passed on these higher costs to our customers with a short time-lag.
Margins stabilised in the fourth quarter. Our gross pro t margin for the year re ects this.
Year-on-year air freight volumes were up by .  in , climbing by .  in
the fourth quarter over the already very high  gures in the third quarter. Volume and
revenue increased particularly in our growth markets of South America, North Asia and
the Middle East as well as Central Europe. Air freight revenue in the reporting year was
up .  on the prior year.
Our ocean freight business continued to perform well in . Volumes increased
by .  on the prior year. In the fourth quarter, volumes were on a par with the high
 gures recorded in the  nal quarter of  due to the fact that volumes in that period
had already recovered from the economic crisis. Full-year  revenue increased by
.  because we were able to pass on the higher prices resulting from the very high
freight rates to our customers mainly in the  nal months of the year.  e trend in our
business in the growth markets of South America, the Middle East and North Asia was
especially encouraging.
In our industrial project business, revenue and gross pro t continued to improve
noticeably on the prior-year period, especially in North and South America as well as
in North Asia.
. Global Forwarding: revenue
 m 2009
adjusted
2010 + / –  Q 4 2009
adjusted
Q 4 2010 + / – 
Air freight 3,957 5,431 37.3 1,209 1,500 24.1
Ocean freight 2,450 3,446 40.7 621 925 49.0
Other 1,506 1,848 22.7 382 489 28.0
Total 7,913 10,725 35.5 2,212 2,914 31.7
. Global Forwarding: volumes
thousands
2009 2010 + / –  Q 4 2009 Q 4 2010 + / – 
Air freight tonnes 3,734 4,435 18.8 1,135 1,185 4.4
of which exports tonnes 2,116 2,458 16.2 640 656 2.5
Ocean freight  1) 2,615 2,772 6.0 687 682 – 0.7
 Twenty-foot equivalent units.
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