Kuehne + Nagel airfreight soars

IN the first three months of 2011 Kuehne + Nagel’s airfreight business saw a 21 per cent increase in volume, outpacing a market expansion of between six and seven per cent.
Volumes were given a boost following acquisitions in South America. The company is raising its guidance for airfreight shipping volume for this year to 18 per cent from 12 per cent, due in part to the January acquisition of Translogo, a Colombia-based shipper of perishables.
Double-digit growth was also achieved in the first quarter in worldwide exports for the automotive industry.
Due to the above-market average volume growth and increased productivity EBITDA-to gross profit margin improved from 28.7 to 32.3 per cent. The operational result rose by 28.6 per cent to CHF 63 million (US$70 million).
“The good results in the first quarter underline the value of our global logistics capabilities, flexibility and operational efficiency in a market influenced by different economic conditions, political unrest and natural disasters,” Reinhard Lange, chief executive officer at Kuehne + Nagel International, said. “As planned we expanded our activities in all business units while at the same time increasing productivity.”
In related news K+N has opened a new aviation logistics hub in Montoir-de-Bretagne in western France. The facility has been designed to handle the entire production logistics of airbus’ manufacturing plants at Nantes and Saint-Nazaire.

Since 2008 K+N has acted as exclusive lead logistics provider for Airbus in Europe and is providing the entire production logistics services at the aircraft manufacturer’s locations in France, Germany, Spain and the UK.
Currently, the operational set-up is based on six regional hubs with a total of 150,000m² and aims at harmonising Airbus’ highly sensitive supply chain by integrating smaller facilities, re-engineering processes and applying lean logistics methods.