Sinotrans
Until recently, Sinotrans was completely protected
for many years by the laws of the People’s Republic
of China from direct foreign competition. In some ways it is a highly
transparent company. Eighty-one percent of revenues are derived
from freight forwarding. Sinotrans handles 6. 9 million TEUs,
384,100 tons of airfreight and 21 million express packages per year.
Sinotrans Limited is a joint stock limited company incorporated in
the People’s Republic of China on November 20, 2002 with China
National Foreign Trade Transportation Corporation (“Sinotrans Group
Company”) as its sole promoter. The Company was listed successfully
on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on February 13, 2003.
The Group’s core services are freight forwarding, express services and
shipping agency services. Its support services include storage and terminal services, trucking and marine transportation.
Bolloré/SDV Logistics
Bolloré Logistics is made up of Bolloré Africa Logistics, a major stevedoring company in Africa which
generates 43 percent of revenue, and SDV a quintessentially French
transportation and freight forwarding company, which generates
the remainder of logistics revenue. Bolloré Africa Logistics, which
has been in Africa for more than 50 years, has 250 subsidiaries,
about 20,000 employees and operates in 43 countries.
SDV is ranked No. 1 in France by the IATA and No. 5 in Europe.
It operates in 92 countries with a large footprint in Europe, Africa
and Asia. It also has 15 branches in major U.S. cities.
Expeditors International
of Washington
Expeditors is the largest, best run North American-based freight forwarder. Net revenues have reached $1.7bn and
produce a gross margin of 28 percent. 2009 was a difficult year but
revenues came back in 2010 exceeding 2008 levels. Net revenues
are 38 percent airfreight forwarding, 39 percent customs brokerage
and 23 percent ocean freight forwarding. U.S. and Asia business
account for 81 percent of revenues. Expeditors is the largest for-warder/NVOCC in the Asia/U.S. lane. It handles about 880,000
TEUs per year globally. Of those, 428,000 are shipped from Asia to
the U.S. Expeditors’ European operations are primarily in airfreight
and constitute about 13 percent of revenues.
Expeditors’s net revenues run 40 percent, high-tech; 33 percent,
retail; 10 percent, pharmaceuticals; 10 percent, automotive; 5 percent, furniture; and 2 percent, other. Expeditors limits its participation in value-added warehousing and distribution.
Geodis
Geodis is France’s largest provider of transportation
and logistics services and is one of the top European
3PLs. With third-party logistics revenues of $5.6bn and 12,000
employees, Geodis Group covers more than 120 countries through
its subsidiaries, including Geodis Logistics, Geodis Wilson, and
Geodis Supply Chain Optimisation (which grew out of its December 2008 acquisition of IBM’s internal global logistics operations).
Most of the Group’s revenue is European-based and accounts for 60
percent of total revenue. Asia-Pacific accounts for 20 percent and
the Americas account for the rest. Geodis Group’s service portfolio
has significant coverage in Europe where it has five core businesses: groupage (parcel delivery/LTL express), truckload, contract
logistics, freight forwarding and supply chain optimization. Freight
forwarding is its largest business segment, generating 36 percent of
revenue. Groupage is next at 25 percent; then contract logistics, 15
percent; supply chain optimization, 13 percent; and truckload, 11
percent. In Europe, Geodis’s industry segment 3PL revenue breakdown is as follows: FMCG/Retail, 42 percent; Automotive, 17 percent; High-Tech, 16 percent; Industrial, 11 percent; Healthcare, 4
percent; Textiles, 3 percent; and Other, 7 percent.
Geodis purchased TNT’s freight forwarder (Wilson) in late 2006.
Wilson added significant new coverage for Germany, China, Australia, New Zealand, North America and South America.
Geodis is expanding its penetration in the North American market through acquisitions, including the one from IBM and One
Source Logistics. There are 18 offices, including two for its chemicals specialist operation, Rohde & Liesenfeld. It relies on a strategic
alliance with International Paper’s xpedx.
Toll Group
Seventy-five percent of Toll’s revenues are Aus-tralian-based where Toll has one of everything in
logistics. Toll’s mission is to be the most successful provider of integrated solutions to the Asian region, providing customers with
global reach. Its largest vertical industry is Retail/FMCG, which
accounts for 33 percent of its revenues.
Sixty percent of SembCorp was acquired in 2006 by Toll Holdings, which owns Australia’s largest trucking and distribution operations. SembCorp is one of the largest logistics providers in Asia.
SembCorp has extensive Asian operations ( 16 countries) and a sizeable joint venture (St. Anda) in China. Its revenues are split as follows: Northern Asia, 53 percent; Southeast Asia, 41 percent; and
Other, 6 percent. In March 2008, Toll took over BALtrans, a large
intra-Asian freight forwarder with operations to the United States
and Europe. Toll has rebranded BALtrans as Toll Global Forwarding. In February 2010, Toll acquired Summit Logistics International
to integrate it into Toll Global Forwarding and expand its capabilities in the Greater China-to-U.S. trade lane.
Agility
Agility has expanded its business dramatically from
its warehousing base in Kuwait. It is a Middle Eastern leader in integrated supply chain solutions and is organized into
three major business groups. Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) is the
largest, generating approximately 65 percent of Agility’s revenues
and having more than 23,000 employees. The majority of GIL’s revenues (just under 90 percent) are generated outside of the U.S. It
has core competencies in freight forwarding, contract
logistics/warehousing, project logistics, fairs & events, and supply
chain management 3PL services.
The Defense & Government Services (DGS) business group
generated approximately 32 percent of Agility’s revenues and had a
workforce of more than 10,000 before 2010. It provides 3PL services
tailored to governments, relief agencies and international institutions worldwide. These services include extensive warehousing
and trucking operations in Kuwait to support U.S. Department of
Defense distribution needs in the region.
