Comment / Analysis: after Panalpina, K+N leads the air freight debutante ball

With the earnings season in ocean/air freight/land opened by Panalpina last Wednesday, now all eyes are on Kuehne+Nagel’s (K+N) interim update, due tomorrow. We all expect more pain than joy for the leading freight forwarders (FF), particularly with regard to the performance of their air freight businesses – which, only 12 months ago or so was their top trade.

But to what extent is sluggish growth in air coming back to haunt the majors, and specifically K+N?

Background

The top FF players, all ...