Fifteen years of Cargolux results reveal air cargo’s uneven new era
Here at The Loadstar, we’ve been watching Cargolux for well over a decade. It has had its ups and downs – from financial stress ...
By Alex Lennane
Despite severe and rapid shifts in trade, one of the world’s biggest transpacific players announced an increase in profit for the first half.
KLN, formerly Kerry Logistics, enjoyed a 12% increase in net profit in H1, to HK$681m ($87m), from revenues up 7%, to HK$27.2bn ($3.48bn).
Its international freight forwarding (IFF) arm saw profit grow 22%, to HK$919m.
“In H1, rapid shifts in trade policies challenged and reshaped the global logistics industry, leading to high volatility in freight rates,” explained CEO Vic Cheung.
“Against this backdrop, KLN withstood the shocks, leveraging its diversified business portfolio and customer mix alongside its solid presence in the South-east Asia region. Our agile response to rapidly changing market conditions and its commitment to supporting our customers’ evolving business needs enabled us to outperform the market.”
KLN noted that IFF had been “severely impacted by the turbulent US-China trade environment”.
“However, the group leveraged the opportunity by providing secured capacity and expedited services. The group also capitalised on rising demand across alternative tradelanes, notably the Asia-Europe and Intra-Asia corridors, which experienced stable growth amid supply chain shifts and tariff-driven realignments.”
Revenue, however, dropped slightly for IFF, to HK$1.7bn.
KLN’s integrated logistics (IL) division also offset trouble in China and Hong Kong by “capitalising on growth in other Asian markets and strengthened cost control measures”.
KLN added: “In Hong Kong, the segment profit of the IL business division declined by 7% as changing consumption patterns of local citizens and tourists have adversely impacted Hong Kong’s F&B and retail sectors. Moreover, a few key accounts relocated the majority of their warehouse operations to Qianhai in Shenzhen to reduce overall operating costs.
“In the mainland of China, the segment profit of the IL division reported a drop of 5%, primarily due to subdued domestic B2B demand, heightened industry competition and the ‘China Plus One’ supply chain strategy, which drove more corporations to relocate all or part of their supply chains to other countries or regions.”
KLN also said that its JV with shareholder SF Holding, which provides ground handling at Ezhou Airport, had doubled, contributing more than HK$180m in revenue.
Mr Cheung concluded: “As H2 25 unfolds, the global economy continues to navigate persistent uncertainty. Nevertheless, we expect our IL business to improve. Our IFF business remains highly sensitive to global geopolitical and trade dynamics. We will continue to closely monitor trade developments and proactively offer alternative multimodal solutions to support customers during challenging periods.
“Looking ahead, we remain cautious yet committed to navigating the challenges of a fast-changing logistics landscape. Continued focus on core strengths, particularly our deep expertise and solid presence in Asia, will be key to driving sustainable results and delivering long-term value to shareholders.”
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