Panalpina negotiates settlement as profits rise
03 / 08 / 2010
PANALPINA has agreed to pay US$375,000 to settle a bribery lawsuit in the US. The investigation alleged a former employee bribed employees of a US military subcontractor – KRB – over airfreight contracts in Iraq.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, neither Panalpina nor the US government admit or deny any of the allegations, but have mutually agreed to close the investigation and dismiss the complaint.
Meanwhile, Panalpina Group posted a 36 per cent growth in airfreight forwarding volumes in the second quarter of 2010.
“The global markets continued to recover in the second quarter of 2010 and we achieved above-average growth in our forwarding volumes. We even had the best June ever in terms of airfreight volumes,” said chief executive officer, Monika Ribar.
“The measures we took to improve profitability are also bearing fruit. In addition to continued strict cost discipline, we have made substantial progress in procurement and sales. Our clear focus on customers is proving successful and we were able to adjust our prices in line with freight rate development. This enabled us in the second quarter to achieve higher gross profit per ton in airfreight, compared to the first quarter,” Ribar added.