The Power 25: Forwarders to watch through 2019

DSV-Panalpina (future No. 3) – For the rest of this year and into 2020, all eyes in the forwarding world are going to be focused on the new DSV-Panalpina entity, which was decided in early 2019 and will be formalized by the third quarter. In its annual report for 2018, DSV said its earnings before interest and taxes increased by 15% over 2017, while airfreight rose by 8.4%. “We are on track to meet our 2020 financial targets,” said Jens Bjørn Andersen, CEO of DSV. Once the Panalpina merger is official, Andersen said he expects airfreight to reach as high as 1.7 million tonnes, which would move it to No. 3 in the Power 25 list. Momentum will also grow in the U.S., the Asia-Pacific region and Europe this year, as well as in the perishables sector, thanks to Panalpina’s M&A activity.

Bolloré Logistics (No. 8) – Sabrina Giarratano, marketing manager, said the French forwarder saw a 9% rise in revenues to US$5.4 billion, compared to 2017, due to “higher revenue in freight forwarding and logistics” and “a general increase” in air volumes. While its European business sagged, Giarratano said Bolloré experienced “a sharp increase” in earnings and higher volumes in Japan and China. Bolloré is also benefitting from “produce coming out of Africa into Europe,” Armstrong said.

Pilot Freight Services (No. 24) – With tonnage shipped in 2018 rising notably by 17.3%, the U.S.-based forwarder can expect to see more of the same this year. Pilot, which bought Minnesota-based Manna Freight Systems last year, boosted its service offering for final-mile delivery of “heavy and hard-to-handle” goods and expanded into a 40,000-square-foot facility in El Paso, Texas. Pilot enjoyed across-the-board record-high growth of 24.8% in 2018, reaching nearly $800 million in revenue.

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