Steep fall in freight forwarding growth last year

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Freight forwarding experienced a steep decline in growth rates during 2018. According to figures from research by Ti, the rate of growth more than halved from 8% to 3.9%, with much of the blame levelled at the troubling trading conditions. Citing the managing director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, Ti notes that the global economy is in a “delicate moment” as rising trade tensions and the financial tightening seen in the second half of 2018 maintain their grip. While it claims that the slowdown was not surprising, given the “exceptional performance” of 2017, worries abound over the outcome of trade disputes between the world’s superpowers. For contract logistics operators, a 0.1% decline in the growth rate hopefully won’t be keeping too many up at night.