Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) sounded optimism for its performance this year after reporting a "strong performance" in 2021 – although it warned of risks associated with current geopolitical tensions.

K+N said last year, the Group significantly increased all of its key figures relative to the previous year with a net turnover climbing 61% to CHF 32.8 billion, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) up 175% to CHF 2.9 billion and earnings for the year increasing by 173% to CHF 2.2 billion.

It added that the Group's gross profit was also 30%, far surpassing the target of 16% by 2022.

Outlook favorable

"In 2021, Kuehne+Nagel proved itself an important and reliable logistics partner in a challenging market environment," said Detlef Trefzger, CEO of Kuehne + Nagel International AG, noting that the company. "We accelerated strategic initiatives and we far surpassed our ambitious financial targets."

"Thus far in the current year, the business outlook has been favourable. However, Russia's acts of war highlight the unpredictable nature of geopolitics – the effects of which on economic development cannot yet be assessed," the K+N chief added.

During the period, K+N saw its airfreight volumes rise by more than half as industry-wide demand boosted its operations. The company also benefitted from its acquisition of Apex Logistics in 2021 which contributed to the growth in its air division.

Its total airfreight volumes last year rose by 54.9% to 2.2 million tonnes compared to the preceeding year's volume. Revenue for the segment was up 97% to CHF11.5 billion and EBIT increased by 131.1% to CHF1.2 billion.

"Limited global freight capacity in 2021 called for customised solutions from the Air Logistics business unit," K+N said. "Demand remained strong for K+N's services in areas such as pharmaceuticals, essential goods and e-commerce. This enabled the business unit to gain significant market share."

"In 2021, the increased demand for air transport services was generated from a solid economic rebound but also from challenges in seafreight supply chains; this in combination with an extended period of low availability of belly capacity due to low frequency of passenger travel has led also in the airfreight market to capacity shortage and high freight rates."

K+N added that similar to the situation in seafreight, a favourable service mix, strong development in the trans-pacific market, unprecedented access to charter capacity and operational efficiency under the difficult circumstances "contributed to significantly increased margins."

For the period, K+N said its sea logistics unit also experienced an "exceptionally high" operational workload in 2021 which it said was due to the difficult market environment with bottlenecks at ports and out-of-sync supply chains.

At 4.6 million TEU, the container volume in 2021 was up 2% on the previous year. The business unit recorded net turnover of CHF 13.7 billion and EBIT of CHF 1.5 billion. The conversion rate reached 55.5%.