Damco remains in expansion mode

Damco joins several other leading freight forwarders in positive numbers this year.

Damco continues to improve its financial performance, spokesmen said. The global logistics company reported improved operations and year-on-year results in both 2009 and 2010. Furthermore, the company expects “good progress” moving into the second half of 2011 despite increasingly challenging conditions in the global freight markets.

This is consistent with obervations made by industry analysts recently. John Manners-Bell, chief executive with the London-based consultancy, Transport Intelligence (Ti), said forwarders are enjoying somewhat of a golden period,.

“Air and sea volumes are still growing albeit not as rapidly as last year,” he said. “In addition to this, extra capacity brought on by shipping and air carriers has meant that rates have softened, meaning that forwarders’ gross margins will expand. Our research suggests that this should be by around 2 percentage points.”

In the first half of 2011, Damco’s ocean freight volumes increased 11 percent compared with the same period in 2010 - well above the 6-8 percent market average. Supply chain management volumes were 2 percent lower than in the same period in 2010 due to the absence of last year’s restocking and weakening consumer demand in North America and Europe. In the air freight segment volumes also grew 11 percent, substantially ahead of the 2-4 percent market average.

Compared to the same period last year gross profit is up 9 percent to USD 361 million. Damco EBIT before restructuring costs for 1H 2011 grew 14 percent to USD 37 million, backed by increased volumes and improved unit margins.