Top Global Freight Carriers React To Growing Demand By Daniel P. Bearth (No. 7), Maersk Line and Israel-based ZIM Integrated Senior Features Writer Shipping Services (No. 42). Two companies joined the Top 50 list this year. he world’s biggest freight carriers all got a little bigger Coming in at No. 49 is Wallenius Wilhelmsen Group, this year as demand for transportation surged across a company based in Oslo, Norway, that specializes in T the globe. transporting cars, trucks, rolling equipment and breakbulk Truck and rail carriers seemed to benefit the most from products around the world with 130 vessels serving 32 trade growth in both domestic and international shipping, but they routes to six continents, plus an inland distribution network also faced difficulties in keeping up with demand. of 77 processing centers and 13 marine terminals. Ocean freight carriers, on the other hand, continue to Making a return appearance on the Top 50 list is Kazakhstan struggle with overcapacity as bigger ships are brought into Temir Zholy, an organization owned by the government that service on high-volume trade lanes and older ships are operates the national railway network in the Republic of funneled into crowded secondary lanes. Kazakhstan. The company hauls cargo and passengers and also To cope with the problem, some companies have merged provides communications, utilities and loading and unloading and others have opted to work together to jointly market their services, cargo and vessels transfer service, security and port services in an effort to keep containerships more fully loaded. services. Recent mergers have included CMA CGM Group’s takeover Shares in Kazakhstan Temir Zholy are expected to be offered of American President Lines, Maersk Group’s purchase of for sale by the end of 2020, according to a statement released Hamburg Süd and subsequent divestiture of South American- by Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev in July. based shipping line Mercosul to Mediterranean Shipping Co., The Top 50 Global Freight Carriers list is the only industry and Hapag-Lloyd AG’s merger with United Arab Shipping ranking that combines air, ocean, rail and truck freight carriers Co. Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. took over some in a single list. It is an exclusive presentation by Transport business from Hanjin Shipping following the latter company’s Topics and S.J. Consulting Group. bankruptcy in 2016. Companies are ranked based on annual revenue generated A combination of two of China’s largest ocean carriers, by freight assets for the most recent 12-month period. Local COSCO Shipping Corp. and Orient Overseas (International) currencies are converted into U.S. dollars based on the Ltd., is pending. COSCO ranks No. 14 on the Top 50 list this average exchange rate for the time period covered. year while OOIL ranks No. 27. Combined freight revenue for all of the Top 50 carriers was Three of Japan’s shipping lines have formed Ocean Network $573.8 billion. That’s up from $520.4 billion for the Top 50 Express to share capacity. They are: Mitsui O.S.K. Lines carriers listed last year. The United States was home base (No. 12), NYK Group (No. 13) and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha for the most companies on the list, a total of 14, followed by Ltd. (No. 21). Another strategic cooperation agreement Japan with six, China and Hong Kong with five and Germany was recently struck between Mediterranean Shipping Co. with four. Acknowledgments and Sources The 2018 Top 50 Global Freight Carriers is an annual project of Transport Topics in cooperation with S.J. Consulting Group. Senior Features Writer Daniel P. Bearth coordinated the project with help from Editorial Researcher Joe Antoshak. The publication was edited by Seth Clevenger, managing editor of features. Cover design by Joseph Terry, senior designer. Layout by Debra Devine, production manager. Rank Rank Freight Revenue Total Revenue Freight Revenue 2018 2017 Company Headquarters (in millions) (in millions) % of Total Revenue Freight Assets Description FedEx Corp. 1 United States $57,198 $62,335 91.8% 179,000 vehicles Air cargo, parcel delivery and truck 1 NYSE: FDX 670 aircraft transportation services in more than 220 countries and territories. Includes Frederick Smith, Chairman and CEO acquisition of P2P Mailing Limited in March. www.fedex.com UPS Inc. 2 United States $57,100 $65,872 86.7% 119,000 vehicles Parcel delivery, truck, air cargo and 2 NYSE: UPS 581 aircraft intermodal transportation services in more than 220 countries and territories. Includes David Abney, Chairman and CEO acquisition of Sandler & Travis Trade www.ups.com Advisory Services in November 2017. China Railway Corp. 3 China $39,395 $150,274 26.2% NA Passenger and freight transportation 3 services in China. Lu Dongfu, General Manager www.china-railway.com.cn/en/ The Maersk Group 4 Denmark $29,096 $30,945 94.0% 786 vessels Ocean shipping of containers, crude oil 4 OMX: MAERSK A, MAERSK B 365,250 containers and LNG worldwide. Operates 73 ports and terminals in 36 countries and 154 inland Soren Skou, CEO facilities in 46 countries. www.maersk.com Russian Railways 5 Russia $26,285 $38,594 68.1% NA Passenger and freight rail transportation 5 services in Russia. Oleg Valentinovich Belozerov, President http://eng.rzd.ru Deutsche Post DHL Group 6 Germany $21,915 $68,271 32.1% 92,000 vehicles Parcel delivery and freight transportation 6 FWB: DPW 250 aircraft services in more than 220 countries and territories. Includes acquisition of Frank Appel, CEO Colombian logistics company Suppla www.dpdhl.com Group in May. Mediterranean Shipping Co. 9 Switzerland $21,428 $21,428 100% 490 vessels Ocean shipping of containers, intermodal 7 transportation and port services in more Gianluigi Aponte, Chairman than 155 countries. Diego Aponte, President and CEO www.msc.com — 2018 Top 50 Global Freight Carriers / In cooperation with 4 Rank Rank Freight Revenue Total Revenue Freight Revenue 2018 2017 Company Headquarters (in millions) (in millions) % of Total Revenue Freight Assets Description Union Pacific Corp. 7 United States $21,240 $21,240 100% 8,573 locomotives Rail and intermodal transportation services 8 NYSE: UP 64,191 rail cars in 23 states in the western United States. 53,982 containers Lance Fritz, Chairman and CEO 45,482 chassis www.up.com CMA CGM Group 10 France $21,116 $21,116 100% 504 vessels Ocean shipping of dry, refrigerated and 9 1.48 million tank containers and bulk commodities Jacques Saadé, Founder Chairman containers worldwide. Includes acquisitions of Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO Containerships, APL and a 25% stake in Ceva Logistics in 2018. www.cma-cgm.com BNSF Railway 8 United States $20,406 $21,387 95.4% 8,000 locomotives Rail and intermodal transportation services 10 (Berkshire Hathaway Inc.) 71,000 rail cars in 28 states in the midwest and northwest United States and three provinces in Matthew Rose, Chairman Canada. Carl Ice, CEO www.bnsf.org Indian Railways1 11 India $17,948 $25,311 64.8% 11,126 locomotives Passenger and freight rail transportation 11 251,256 rail cars services in India. A.K. Mital, Chairman www.indianrailways.gov.in Japan $13,958 $14,830 94.1% 857 vessels Ocean shipping of containers, bulk 13 Mitsui O.S.K Lines commodities, cars and LNG worldwide. 12 TYO: 9104 Includes acquisition of Azalea Maritime B.V. in December 2017. Koichi Muto, Chairman Junichiro Ikeda, President and CEO www.mol.co.jp/en/ 2 Japan $13,869 $19,903 69.7% 755 vessels Ocean shipping of containers, wood 12 NYK Group chips, cars, bulk commodities and LNG 13 TYO: 9101 worldwide, port terminal operations and harbor truck services in North America. Yasumi Kudo, Chairman Tadaaki Naito, President www.nyk.com 1Indian Railways revenue is for 12 months ended March 31, 2018. 2NYK Group revenue is for 12 months ended March 31, 2018. 2018 Top 50 Global Freight Carriers / In cooperation with — 5 Rank Rank Freight Revenue Total Revenue Freight Revenue 2018 2017 Company Headquarters (in millions) (in millions) % of Total Revenue Freight Assets Description China $13,378 $13,378 100% 1,114 vessels Ocean shipping of containers, bulk 18 COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. 14 commodities, crude oil and LNG Xu Lirong, Chairman worldwide. Acquisition of Orient Overseas International pending. en.coscocs.com Germany $12,578 $48,234 26.1% 60 locomotives Passenger and freight rail and truck 14 Deutsche Bahn AG 15 99 rail cars transportation in Germany and more than Richard Lutz, CEO 130 countries worldwide. www.deutschebahn.com United States $11,408 $11,408 100% 4,166 locomotives Rail and intermodal transportation services 17 CSX Corp. 16 60,151 rail cars in 23 states and the District of Columbia in James Foote, Chairman and CEO 18,088 containers the eastern United States. www.csx.com Germany $11,264 $11,264 100% 219 vessels Ocean shipping of dry and refrigerated 15 Hapag-Lloyd AG 17 containers. Rolf Jansen, CEO www.hapag-lloyd.com Japan $11,190 $15,459 72% NA Package delivery services in Japan and 16 Yamato Holdings Asia. 18 TYO: 9064 Makoto Kigawa, Chairman Masaki Yamauchi, President and CEO www.yamato-hd.co.jp United States $10,551 $10,551 100% 4,155 locomotives Rail and intermodal transportation services 19 Norfolk Southern Corp. 19 62,706 rail cars in 22 states and District of Columbia in the NYSE: NSC 17,928 containers eastern United States. James Squires, Chairman, President and 28,710 chassis CEO www.nscorp.com China $10,522 $10,522 100% 15,000 vehicles Parcel delivery in China and Mongolia, 22 SF Express 20 36 aircraft Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, Wang Wei, Chairman Australia and the United States. www.sf-express.com — 2018 Top 50 Global Freight Carriers / In cooperation with 6 Rank Rank Freight Revenue Total Revenue Freight Revenue 2018 2017 Company Headquarters (in millions) (in millions) % of Total Revenue Freight Assets Description Japan $10,166 $10,166 100% 224 vessels Ocean shipping of containers, cars, bulk 20 Kawaski Kisen Kaisha Ltd.