CHANGE in the rankings of the world's 50 largest logistics companies reflect a significant number of consolidations though organic growth increased revenue nearly five per cent to US$248 billion year on year, reported Newark's Journal of Commerce.
XPO Logistics vaulted onto the list in 2014 for the first time, after a series of nine acquisitions - including New Breed Logistics, Pacer and 3PD - helped to raise its revenue 235.8 per cent to $2.3 billion last year, according to Pittsburgh research house SJ Consulting Group.
Norbert Dentressangle rose to the 23rd spot on the list from 24th, in part because of the impact of its 2013 takeover of Fiege's logistics operations in Italy, Spain and Portugal, as well as its July 2014 acquisition of Jacobson Cos.
Having not made the top 40 last year, Coyote Logistics was in 38th place by increasing revenue 64 per cent to $1.7 billion with 34 per cent of the growth driven by the March 2014 acquisition of Access America Transport.
Helping to drive a return in revenue growth after a flat 2013 was a 2.6 per cent expansion in world trade last year, up from 2.1 per cent a year earlier, according to World Trade Organisation data.
"Acquisitions contributed to a lot of the growth, but most of the top companies on the list also experienced organic growth" in 2014, said Mark D'Amico, the SJ Consulting analyst who compiled the list for the Journal of Commerce.
Excluding companies that made significant acquisitions in 2013 and 2014, overall growth was three per cent. Revenue at fourth-ranked CH Robinson grew 7.7 per cent and Expeditors International sales were up eight per cent and Hitachi Transport System grew 18.3 per cent.
"The strengthening dollar did contribute to US import growth of six per cent in 2014, compared with a two per cent decline in export volume, which is expected to continue through 2015," Mr D'Amico said. "That would encourage a shift toward Asia-to-US traffic rather than US-to-Europe."
LOGISTICS
21 April 2015 - 19:06
Top 50 logistics firms sales grow mostly through acquisitions in 2014
CHANGE in the rankings of the world's 50 largest logistics companies reflect a significant number of consolidations though organic growth increased revenue nearly five per cent to US$248 billion year on year, reported Newark's Journal of Commerce.
LOGISTICS
21 April 2015 - 19:06
Top 50 logistics firms sales grow mostly through acquisitions in 2014
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