The French newspaper Le Figaro said that the major players in the maritime and air transport of goods in the world did not achieve such gains as they gained during the Corona epidemic crisis, from which they emerged "victorious", and even used the money they gained to launch strategic changes.
In the third quarter of this year - the newspaper adds - the Danish company Maersk, the world leader in this sector, broke all records, as its turnover increased by 67% to $ 16.6 billion, and its net profit doubled 6 times to reach $ 5.4 billion.
In the second quarter, the French company CMA CGM (the fourth largest freight company in the world) doubled its net profit (3.5 billion dollars) 25 times, and its revenues jumped by 77% to 12.4 billion dollars.
These astronomical profits - according to the newspaper - are exceptional by all standards, as only giant technology companies have reached their counterparts, and they are mainly caused by the increase in the prices of goods.
"Given that demand is vastly outstripping supply, prices are going up," said Jerome de Rickles, platform consultant for French shipping company Upply. It costs on average 4 times what it did a year ago."
Air freight rebounds
The newspaper stresses that the air freight sector is also taking full advantage of this open appetite for “Made in China” products. According to the International Air Transport Association - which includes 190 airlines - this year, the sector will achieve record revenues of $ 175 billion, while those revenues did not exceed Last year - although it was a good year - 129 billion dollars.
Faced with the faltering movement of sea freight, companies tend to use planes more and more despite the high price of their services, but the problem is that "the capacity of air freight is still low because not all planes have resumed their normal activity," as French aviation consultant Mark Durance points out.
Le Figaro sees this promising context as a boon for the few companies specializing in the field of cargo, as one of them - the American company "Atlas Air", which owns 72 cargo planes - for the first time in its history achieved quarterly revenues in excess of $1 billion, an increase of 25.5 percent, and its net profit rose to $119.5 million, an increase of 61%.
The freight - the newspaper adds - also allowed general airlines to partially reduce the terrible impact of the Corona health crisis that still limits travel possibilities for travelers, such as Air France, which gradually began to get out of the predicament, as it achieved in the third third of the year operating profits amounting to $132 million in which the freight sector played an important role, despite the company's re-launch of passenger transport activity.