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Global Forwarding, Freight

Air, ocean and overland freight forwarding services are the core business of the Global Forwarding, Freight division. They include standardized transports as well as multimodal and sector-specific solutions, together with customized industrial projects and customs services.

Our business model is based upon brokering transport services between customers and freight carriers. The global reach of our network allows us to offer efficient routing and multimodal transport options. Compared with the Group’s other divisions, our operational business model is less capital intense. Global Forwarding, Freight is among the three largest global freight forwarding companies in a market that remains fragmented.

Air, ocean and overland freight forwarding services

~47,000

employees

>250,000

customers

DHL employees

>115

countries

3.3 million

20-foot container units transported

>200

terminals and storage facilities

DHL air freight

Increasing volumes in freight markets

As expected, the overall situation on the freight markets continued to normalize in 2024. In this environment, we reached around 1.8 million metric tons (previous year: around 1.7 million metric tons) of export air freight transported. Volumes also increased in ocean freight, rising by 7.3% to around 3.3 million (previous year: around 3.1 million) 20-foot container units (TEUs) transported.

  •  

    Asia Pacific

    Americas

    		 Middle East/Africa Europe Other Global

    Air freight (m tons)1

    10.5

    5.1

    1.2       

    5.6

    0.9

    23.3

    Ocean freight (m TEU)2

    41.0

    8.3

    4.5        

    7.1

    1.0

    61.9

    1
    Data based solely on export freight tons. Source: Accenture, forecast as of February 2025.
    2
    Twenty-foot container units; estimated part of overall market controlled by forwarders. Data based solely on export volumes. Source: company estimates, Accenture, forecast as of February 2025.

Difficult economic conditions impacting the European road freight market

The persistently difficult macroeconomic environment continued to put European road freight under pressure in 2024. We experienced a shipment volume decline of 4.3% in the Freight business unit. The challenging market situation and noticeably increased costs resulted in reduced profitability.

Satisfied customers and high security standards

We aim to design our services to be as user-friendly as possible in the Global Forwarding, Freight division. To do so, we systematically record customer feedback by using the Net Promoter Approach and conducting annual satisfaction surveys. Based upon the information received, we define initiatives and actions aimed at steadily improving our products and services.

Our global network is geared to the highest sector-specific security standards, including TAPA certification and the US initiative C-TPAT. Gateways and hubs are TAPA certified. Our global Transport Management System in the Global Forwarding business unit is designed to optimally support growth. It is highly scalable and enables seamless expansion of applications and processes. In the Freight business unit, too, we are increasingly standardizing transport management systems. We have customer interaction tools such as the myDHLFreight portal, which is already running in 28 countries.

DHL Global Forwarding products & services DHL Freight products & services