Thursday 19 May 2011

Back on Track? Transport Industry Has Cause For - Cautious - Optimism.

Don’t speak too soon, but there are signs of a small recovery in the global transport industry, well, for some companies, at least.

According to the latest statistics, global transport and logistics revenues increased by 15% last year to $197.8bn (£121.20bn). 

That's the good news. The bad news is that, in real terms, this means that industry revenues have barely shifted from where they were in 2007.

And it appears there are certain areas of the industry that are faring better than others.

The figures, published in Transport Intelligence’s Global Transport & Logistics Sector Leaders 2011 report, reflect the performance of 19 major companies including DHL, Wincanton and Kuehne + Nagel.

It found that industry profit margins remain wafer thin at less than 5% and suggests that while these profits might be enough to keep “low asset” operations going, they spell danger for big logistics firms with their own fleets.

"The industry needs to increase its margins in 2011 and beyond," says TI analyst David Bagshaw. "2010 has seen a good recovery for most of the industry, but it still has some way to go.”

The report suggested that the worst hit part of the industry is haulage, which hasn’t pulled out of recession yet and is suffering continued profitability problems.

All this, of course, underlines the crucial role telematics and vehicle tracking can play in business. At iBox technology, we are seeing that our range of mates is delivering significant savings in all sorts of areas - from increased fuel efficiency to staff rota savings. Why not give us a call to discuss how we can save you money in these challenging economic times.

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