DHL 2015 Annual Report Download - page 40

Deutsche Post  Group —  Annual Report
GLOBAL FORWARDING, FREIGHT DIVISION
The air, ocean and overland freight forwarder
e Global Forwarding and Freight business units are responsible within the Group for
air, ocean and overland freight transport. Our freight forwarding services not only in-
clude standardised transports but also multimodal and sector-specic solutions as well
as individualised industrial projects.
Our business model is asset-light, as it is based upon the brokerage of transport
services between our customers and freight carriers. Our global presence ensures net-
work optimisation and the ability to meet the increasing demand for ecient routing
and multimodal transports.
The leader in a sluggish air freight market
Growth in the global air freight market was sluggish during  as air cargo volumes
remained weak. , the global airline industry association, attributes this develop-
ment to the decline in trade activities, mostly in emerging markets. Overall, the world-
wide freight tonne kilometres own during the reporting year grew by only . accord-
ing to . In light of the weak volume development, the on-going expansion of
capacity on the market increased pressure on the industry as commercial airlines again
brought more wide-body passenger planes into service. Moreover, the strong peak sea-
son volumes seen in the fourth quarter failed to materialise in . Overall, this led to
a persistently weak market environment with stier competition and increased pressure
on margins. Aer transporting around . million export freight tonnes in the previous
year, we remained the air freight market leader in .
Ocean freight market experiences surplus capacities and low freight rates
In the reporting year, the global ocean freight market saw slight growth again. Overall
freight rates remained at a low level on the largest trade lanes. On the particularly im-
portant lane between Asia Pacic and Europe, rates remained at an extremely low level.
e global market continues to face surplus capacities caused by the introduction of new
and larger vessels. Although freight carriers have successfully limited the availability of
this additional capacity – either by adjusting travel speeds, through blank sailings or
capacity reallocations – low rates still prevailed throughout the market and aected prof-
itability. Aer transporting .million twenty-foot equivalent units in the previous year,
we remained the second-largest provider of ocean freight services in the reporting year.
Stagnation in European overland freight market
e European road freight market was virtually stagnant in , aer seeing slight
growth in the prior year. Two opposing factors contributed to this development: a vol-
ume increase caused by the slight economic upturn in Europe and the current low oil
price no longer supporting market growth as it had previously for years. In what remains
a highly competitive environment,  was able to perform in line with the market by
focussing exclusively upon organic growth.
Air freight market, : top  .
Thousand tonnes
1
Panalpina 858
 Schenker 1,112
Kuehne + Nagel 1,194
 2,276
1 Data based solely upon export freight tonnes.
Source: annual reports, publications
and company estimates.
Ocean freight market, : top  .
Thousand  s
1
Panalpina 1,607
 Schenker 1,983
 2,932
Kuehne + Nagel 3,820
1 Twenty-foot equivalent units.
Source: annual reports, publications
and company estimates.
European road transport market,
:top  .
Market volume:  billion
1, 2
Kuehne + Nagel 1.3 %
Dachser 1.7 %
 1.7 %
 2.2 %
 Schenker 3.3 %
1 Market size and shares include  European
countries, excluding bulk and specialties
transport.
2 Figures not comparable to last year’s based
uponextended country scope and changed
projection model.
Source:  Study   (based upon Eurostat,
financial publications,  Global Insight).
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