Top 25 air forwarders: K+N maintains its lead in a volatile year

Last year was a volatile period for the world’s leading airfreight forwarders, with tariff changes reshaping supply chains and major consolidation creating shockwaves in the market.

There was also the US decision to end its de minimis exemption for e-commerce shipments, a market that had been one of the main demand drivers for air cargo in recent years.

However, there were positives too, and as the year progressed, it became increasingly clear that data centres, computer chips and AI-related products were going to provide the airfreight market with its next success story.

The market volatility experienced in 2025 can be seen in the top 25 air forwarders list from consultant Armstrong & Associates, with volumes varying dramatically between players, depending on how their core markets were affected by the Trump administration’s tariff policy.

Overall, the top 25 air forwarders registered a slight 0.1% increase in demand as the volatile market conditions affected performance.

One of the big surprises in the table is that Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) managed to maintain its top spot despite DSV taking over fourth-placed DB Schenker.

Switzerland-headquartered K+N saw its airfreight volumes increase 7% year on year in 2025 to 2,030,280 tonnes, narrowly beating DSV’s 2,013,127 tonnes.

Of course, it should be noted that DSV only began fully including Schenker’s figures in its results from the third quarter, as the deal was not completed until May.

And, in the third quarter of the year, DSV actually edged K+N in terms of airfreight volumes – pointing towards a probable change in leadership this year.

Turning to the trends that affected K+N’s performance last year, the forwarder said the airfreight market in 2025 was characterised by “volatile demand for air transport services following the introduction of trade tariffs”.

China was one of the main countries that was affected by US tariffs and this saw supply chains shift towards Southeast Asia.

There were also waves of front-loading as companies looked to move shipments before the latest round of tariffs kicked in.

However, in the last quarter, K+N reported strong demand for airfreight capacity out of Asia from AI infrastructure developers (hyperscalers)”.

Elsewhere, K+N also benefited from the acquisition of Eastway Global Forwarding, which helped the airfreight business unit expand its portfolio of time-critical aircraft-on-ground services.

Despite the volume increase, the forwarder said that it had faced yield pressure as airfreight rates had fallen compared with the highs of 2024, when the air cargo market was boosted by modal shift due to the Red Sea missile crisis.

This is reflected in air turnover increasing at a lower rate than volumes, improving 3% to Sfr8bn.

Second-placed DSV had a bumper year in terms of airfreight volume growth, registering an improvement of 44% year on year thanks to its acquisition of DB Schenker.

The acquisition helped DSV leapfrog DHL Global Forwarding into second place and should be enough to hand the company top position in 2026.

The Danish company said that its “organic growth in airfreight was relatively consistent with market growth, after adjusting for the exit of low-yield volumes”.

DSV said that changes in the e-commerce market, led by the US decision to end the de minimis exemption, had a “minor direct impact” on its airfreight operations due to its limited e-commerce volumes.

DSV air revenue for the year was Dkr75.5bn, up 37% compared to 2024. Airfreight gross profit was Dkr16.6bn, an increase of 39%.

The company said of airfreight in 2025: “Overall, modest demand growth, increased capacity and shifts in trade lanes led to flat to slightly negative freight rates compared to last year.”

“The development in revenue was driven by the contribution from Schenker, offsetting lower average freight rates, especially within sea freight,” said DSV.

The Denmark-headquartered company added that in the fourth quarter, technology remained a growth contributor compared to the previous year, despite signs of stabilisation. Meanwhile, automotive was still downtrading.

The year was not quite so positive for Bonn-headquartered DHL Global Forwarding, which saw its airfreight volumes decline by 1% year on year in 2025 to 1.8m tonnes.

2025 revenues for airfreight was €6bn, down 4.6%. Gross profit was down 0.9%.

The company didn’t provide too much specific information on the performance of its airfreight business, commenting that the global forwarding market in 2025 was characterised by ongoing geopolitical conflicts and increasing tariff-related uncertainties.

“The capacity constraints of the previous year eased over the course of 2025, and there was an increasing degree of cautious optimism around the situation in the Red Sea, resulting in reduced freight rates in air and ocean freight.”

The group also noted that data centre demand helped offset slower international e-commerce volumes in its airfreight business, something that has continued to boost the forwarder’s performance this year.

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