Damco profits focus sees Q3 airfreight revenues and volumes down
14 / 11 / 2018
Damco, the logistics arm of Danish shipping giant Maersk, saw 2018 third quarter (Q3) airfreight revenues decrease 2.6% to $152m, with reduced volumes of 9.1% to 46,000 tonnes.
The interim Q3 report said that the falls were "mostly through customer deselection and industry challenges in the fashion and consumer vertical out of China".
Gross profit increased slightly in airfreight, as a reflection of the higher margins, to $21m from $20m. Margins increased by 17% to $451 $/ton because of "the continuous focus on profitable business".
During the first nine months of 2018, Damco airfreight volumes fell 10.5% to 130,434 tonnes. Airfreight revenues in the same period rose 1.1% to $440m.
Third quarter ocean freight revenue declined slightly to $165m from $167m, while volumes increased by 2% to 171,000 TEU.
The Logistics & Services division, including Damco, saw quarterly revenues up by 7.5% to $1.6bn, with supply chain management reporting 10% growth in volume and 16% growth in revenue.
The Copenhagen-based parent group said that the brand affiliation for Twill, the "digital freight forwarder designed to make shipping simple", has changed from Damco to Maersk.
It stated: "This realigning of the brand will make it possible to offer Twill to all Maersk customers, in line with the strategy of becoming a global integrator of container logistics offering end-to-end solutions.
"Twill keeps on working on extending the service offering by creating the ‘Origin Controlled booking’ which upon its roll-out will allow suppliers of goods to be active partners on Twill and interaction between suppliers and importers can change back and forth depending on individual shipments and as such unlock export dominated markets."
The global roll-out of Twill has continued in Europe with the addition of the Nordics (Denmark & Sweden), Slovakia and Germany as well as Australia and China for import to the portfolio. With the realigning of the brand affiliation to Maersk, the further roll-out will be "accelerated".
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