Report

European Logistics

The top players on the market

The European logistics market accommodates companies of different size, but even among

T
the top market players we can see a huge discrepancy in revenue.
he undisputable market leader fund Apollo Management L.P. through a merger global container lines with some inland services.
of the TOP 24 of European Lo- of what was left of the disinvested (2006) TNT DB Schenker and SNCF Geodis are railway cargo
gistics in 2009 was DHL, which logistics division and American EGL. CEVA incumbents with very strong logistics divisions.
generated more than thirty times is headquartered in the UK; the direct holding La Poste, TNT Express and GLS – rooted in na-
the revenue of Logwin (formerly company is registered in the Cayman Islands. tional postal services – are leading express trans-
Thiel) – the ‘smallest’ billionaire The TOP 24 are companies of diverse busi- port operators. GLS offers its services mainly to
on the list (see Table 1). The cumulated reve- ness profiles. DHL is the most versatile one (in fact B2B customers. K+N and Panalpina although
nue of the TOP 24 amounts to EUR 142.81 bln. to be a full-service company it lacks only railway strong in logistics are key leaders in sea and air
DHL alone generates 24% of this amount. Fur- transport). The other almost all-service operator freight (forwarding). CEVA, DSV, Dachser, Nor-
ther on, two-digit shares are held by only two (lacking only airway transport) is Bolloré, which bert Dentressangle, Ziegler and Cargoline focus
companies – A. P. Møller-Maersk (APMM) and – although headquartered in France – operates mainly on freight management/road transport
DB Schenker (11%). If we split DB Schenker traditionally in Africa and more recently in Asia and contract logistics, despite offering forwarding
activities into railway transport and logistics, and Europe. APMM and CMA CGM are the top too. Rhenus, Wincanton, Fiege and Logwin are
the company’s logistics branch would still be
in third position with an 8% share. Tab. 1. TOP 24 market players of the European origin in 2009 by revenue
revenue 2009 employment home
The leading companies group of companies
(EUR mln) 2009 country
Companies covered in table 1 are either 1 DHL 33,689 41,150 Germany
logistics operators or transport companies that 2 A.P. Møller-Maersk: container lines 15,829 N/A Denmark
maintain some divisions that focus on logistics 3 DB Schenker 15,040 88,186 Germany
activities. They exceed one billion euro of net
sales revenue and – thirdly – the shareholders 4 Kuehne + Nagel 9,494 51,075 Switzerland
are mainly Europeans or European compa- 5 CMA CGM 7,527 16,000 France
nies. The exceptions are companies headquar- 6 SNCF Geodis 7,377 25,531 France
tered and established in Europe that either due
to public trading of shares are today to a vital 7 TNT Express 5,956 75,032 Holand
extent in non-European hands or the capital UK/Cayman
8 CEVA 5,494 43,113
is relatively anonymous, so that the country of Islands
registration of the parent company was decisive 9 DSV 4,846 19,211 Denmark
for the selection (CEVA). 10 La Poste: Geopost and Coliposte 4,456 27,300 France
Over the period of 2003-2008 seven compa-
nies which exceeded EUR 1 bln were acquired 11 Bolloré: transport and logistics 4,032 26,863 France
by other market players. These were: Exel (rev- 12 Panalpina 3,945 15,301 Switzerland
enue of EUR 9.3 bln in 2004; acquired by DHL),
13 Dachser 3,200 17,130 Germany
P&O Nedlloyd (EUR 5.4 bln in 2004; acquired
by APMM), ABX Logistics (EUR 2.6 bln in 14 GEFCO 2,888 9,980 France
2006; acquired by DSV), Tibbet&Britten (EUR 15 Norbert Dentressangle 2,719 29,631 France
2.4 bln in 2003; acquired by DHL), Hays Lo-
16 Rhenus Logistics 2,700 15,000 Germany
gistics (EUR 1.2 bln in 2003; acquired initially
by an American investment fund, and later in 17 Hellmann Worldwide Logistics 2,470 8,556 Germany
2006 under the name ACR by K+N), Christian 18 Wincanton 2,450 28,200 UK
Salvesen (EUR 1.3 bln in 2006; acquired by
19 STEF TFE 1,984 14,213 France
Norbert Dentressangle) and Frans Maas (EUR
1.1 bln in 2005; acquired by DSV). 20 GLS 1,700 1,750 UK/Holand
Over the same period of time three players 21 Fiege 1,500 21,100 Germany
exceeded the EUR 1 bln threshold of net rev-
22 Ziegler 1,203 4,280 Belgium
enue: Rhenus Logistics in 2004, Cargoline (an
alliance of German logistics operators) in 2006 23 Cargoline 1,200 6,400 Germany
and CEVA in 2007. The latter company, in fact Luxembourg/
24 Logwin 1,113 8,483
a new entrant, was established by the American Germany

38 | Baltic Transport Journal | 6/2010


Fig. Shares in the cumulated TOP 24 revenue
mainly contract logistics operators. Less known
is STEF TFE, which is a niche logistics operator
of only regional coverage (mainly France, Italy,
Spain and Portugal) focusing on fresh, chilled
and frozen products. Gefco is rooted in the car
manufacturing industry, but already 40% of its
revenue is generated from non-affiliates and not
necessarily car manufacturers.
According to DHL market analysts (source:
Deutsche Post DHL Geschäftsbericht 2009),
the TOP 5 players in the overall European road
transport market worth EUR 170 bln in 2008
were DB Schenker (3.3%), DHL (2.1%), DSV
(1.8%), Dachser (1.3%) and Geodis (1.1%). The
leaders in the sea forwarding segment (as per
cargo volume) were DHL (9.1%), K+N (8.4%),
DB Schenker (4.6%), Panalpina (4%) and the
American company Expeditors (2.8%). The five
biggest players in the air forwarding segment
(as per cargo weight) were DHL (12.9%), DB
Schenker (6.5%), Panalpina (4.8%), K+N (4.4%)
and Japanese Kintetsu (2.3%). And, the TOP 5
players in the overall European contract logistics
market worth EUR 147 bln in 2008 were DHL
(8.5%), CEVA (2.4%), K+N (2.1%), CAT Logis-
tics (1.8%) and Wincanton (1.8%). Thus, only
two non-European companies (Expeditors and
Kintetsu) belong to the TOP 5.
The economic crisis halted revenue growth
of the top market players. The major revenue
slump was experienced, however, only between
2008 and 2009. In 2008 most of the companies
Report
still generated revenue at least equal to that of
2007, with the exception of Gefco (0.99%), Win-
canton and Rhenus (0.94%).
In 2009 none of the companies generated
revenue at previous year’s level. Only three com-
panies generated revenue at a level of at least 95%
compared to 2008 (DSV – 97%, STEF-TFE and
La Poste – 95%). The worst result was generated
by Logwin (54%) – however, it was rather due to
major disinvestments than to the economic cri-
sis. The threshold of 80% – thus more than 20%
revenue loss – was exceeded by Panalpina (71%
of 2008 revenue), CMA CGM (73%), APMM
(78%), DB Schenker (78%), and Ziegler (79%).
In 2009 only three companies generated revenue
higher than in 2007 (DSV, Norbert Dentressangle,
6/2010 | Baltic Transport Journal | 39
Report

STEF TFE), and twelve – thus only half of the Tab. 2. TOP 5 market players by segment in 2008 (by DHL)
TOP 24 list – generated revenue higher than in
road transport sea forwarding air forwarding contract logistics
2006 (K+N, CMA CGM, SNCF Geodis, DSV, La
Poste, Bolloré, Dachser, Norbert Dentressangle, 1 DB Schenker DHL DHL DHL
Rhenus, STEF TFE, GLS and Cargoline).
Before the economic crisis (2003-2008) 2 DHL K+N DB Schenker CEVA
almost all major players had been consist- 3 DSV DB Schenker Panalpina K+N
ently increasing the sales revenue. The
exceptions were TNT, which after a short 4 Dachser Panalpina K+N CAT
phase of including logistics services into its
5 Geodis Expeditors Kintetsu Wincanton
business profile eventually withdrew from
these activities to focus only on express serv-
Tab. 3. Revenue growth by the TOP 24 in selected years
ices (2006), as well as Ziegler. The only case
of an acquisition indigestion that halted an group of companies 09/08 08/07 07/06 09/07 09/06 08/03
increase in revenue prior to the economic
crisis was in the case of APMM and its prob- 1 DHL 0.81 1.01 1.06 0.82 0.87 1.98
lems with fully integrating P&O Nedlloyd.
2 A.P. Møller-Maersk: container lines 0.78 1.05 0.97 0.82 0.79 1.71
The absolute record of revenue growth
is held by CMA CGM and Rhenus Logistics, 3 DB Schenker 0.78 1.08 1.05 0.84 0.88 1.79
which both tripled the revenue. For CMA
4 Kuehne + Nagel 0.84 1.09 1.10 0.91 1.00 2.29
CGM it was organic growth and acquisi-
tions, e.g. of Delmas from Bolloré in 2006, 5 CMA CGM 0.73 1.19 1.29 0.87 1.13 3.40
with a turnover of EUR 893 mln in 2005 and
for Rhenus it was a few big acquisitions – e.g. 6 SNCF Geodis 0.92 1.07 1.14 0.98 1.12 1.28
German IHG in 2009 with a turnover close to 7 TNT Express 0.90 1.02 0.67 0.91 0.61 0.76
one billion euro and Dutch TMI in 2007 with
a turnover of EUR 400 mln. Five companies 8 CEVA 0.87 1.00 - 0.87 - -
doubled or more than doubled the revenue: 9 DSV 0.97 1.07 1.09 1.03 1.13 2.11
Norbert Dentressangle (254%), K+N (229%),
La Poste (213%; due to some shifts between 10 La Poste: Geopost and Coliposte 0.95 1.04 1.08 0.99 1.07 2.13
fields of activity and smaller acquisitions),
11 Bolloré: transport and logistics 0.89 1.10 1.14 0.97 1.11 1.26
DSV (211%), and DHL (198%). Some major
acquisitions (target company revenue higher 12 Panalpina 0.71 1.06 1.08 0.75 0.80 1.58
than EUR 1 bln) added to the increase in
revenue: Norbert Dentressangle – Christian 13 Dachser 0.89 1.03 1.13 0.91 1.03 1.71
Salvesen and some parts of disinvested TNT 14 GEFCO 0.82 0.99 1.10 0.81 0.89 1.29
logistics’ activities, K+N – ACR, DSV – ABX
Logistics and Fraans Maas, DHL – Exel and 15 Norbert Dentressangle 0.88 1.72 1.12 1.51 1.69 2.54
Tibbet&Britten. 16 Rhenus Logistics 0.87 0.94 1.32 0.82 1.08 3.06*
As far as the shareholding structure and own-
ership of the dominant company is concerned, 17 Hellmann Worldwide Logistics 0.86 1.02 1.07 0.88 0.93 1.42
the TOP 24 comprises groups that are owned by
18 Wincanton 0.83 0.94 1.12 0.77 0.86 1.22
state treasuries (DHL, DB Schenker, SNCF Geo-
dis, La Poste, GLS by Royal Mail Group – UK’s 19 STEF TFE 0.95 1.08 1.12 1.03 1.15 1.54
national postal operator). A number of compa-
nies are in fact family businesses (CMA CGM, 20 GLS 0.91 1.07 1.09 0.97 1.06 1.59
Dachser, Rhenus through Rethmann, Hellman 21 Fiege 0.83 1.00 1.03 0.83 0.86 1.35
WWL, Fiege and Ziegler) or quoted family com-
panies which raised additional capital through 22 Ziegler 0.79 1.01 1.01 0.79 0.80 0.86
public offerings (APMM, K+N, Bolloré and Nor- 23 Cargoline 0.92 1.00 1.19 0.92 1.10 1.39**
bert Dentressangle). Portfolio capital has been
invested into Panalpina and Logwin although we 24 Logwin 0.54 1.00 1.08 0.54 0.59 1.23
can clearly indicate the dominant investor. TNT,
CEVA, DSV, Wincanton, STEF TFE are owned * Years 2008/2004 (since the company has reached EUR 1.0 bln revenue treshold.
by investment funds and private individuals (free ** Years 2008/2006 (since the company has reached EUR 1.0 bln revenue treshold.
float). Cargoline is an alliance of logistics operators
and Gefco belongs to PSA Peugeot Citroën. ‚
The article is based on the research on top logistics players of European origin held
Dr Joanna Archutowska since 2003 by the Department of International Transport and Logistics (Warsaw
Department of International Transport School of Economics). The top list is published in Rzeczpospolita on a yearly basis by
and Logistics H. Brdulak, J. Archutowska, E. Żbikowska and P. Michalski.
Warsaw School of Economics

40 | Baltic Transport Journal | 6/2010