Kuehne + Nagel continued to post impressive earnings in its contract logistics sector, where the nine-month results 20.4 percent year-on-year growth outperformed the market by more than three times.

Margins were improved to 5.0 percent thanks to productivity increases and enhanced production flexibility. The operational result rose 23 percent.

Strong growth in other business units saw the seafreight division recording a 16 percent rise in volumes, despite a seven to eight percent slowdown in the global seafreight market. The company was able to considerably increase container volumes in the booming Asia-Pacific trade lanes.

Airfreight tonnage increased by 15 percent with the Ebitda margin rising to 5.5 percent.

In road and rail logistics, turnover grew by 16.9 percent, double that of the market, although investment in the expansion and consolidation of the network was a drag on results for the last nine months.

Klaus Herms, CEO of Kuehne + Nagel International, was happy with the January to September figures.

“Our dynamic growth is a result of strong global trade and our ability to offer customers value-adding, integrated services worldwide,” he said.

“The effective implementation of our strategy is reflected in the constant growth rates recorded across our business units and regions. We are confident that this trend will continue and we will exceed last year’s good results.”

Compared with the previous year’s period, turnover increased 15.7 percent to US$13.2 million, and the operational result (EBITDA) improved 16.0 percent to $609 million. Net earnings amounted to $350 million, an increase of 29.9 percent.