DACHSER Reports a Positive Annual Balance in the Crisis Year 2020

The group revenue of the logistics company DACHSER remained almost constant in the Corona year 2020. A strong second half of the year compensated for the effects of the European lockdowns in April and May. Overall, DACHSER plans to invest 190 million euros in logistics capacities, technical equipment, and digital systems.

(Kempten) DACHSER looks back on a successful business year 2020, which was significantly shaped by the loyalty and close trust relationship between customers, logistics service providers, and transport partners. The consolidated net revenue of DACHSER amounted to 5.61 billion euros, decreasing only slightly by 0.9 percent compared to the previous year.

Group revenue remains almost constant in the Corona year 2020

“We kept our promise to be an anchor of stability during the Corona crisis,” says Burkhard Eling, CEO of DACHSER. “We drew a lot of motivation from the strong support of our customers and partners. The thanks for the successful year goes especially to our employees and everyone who drives for DACHSER. Despite the additional burdens caused by Corona, they delivered an impressive performance and met the responsibility of system relevance at all times.”

DACHSER kept the global supply chains of its customers running without interruption and found flexible solutions to capacity bottlenecks, especially in intercontinental traffic. In doing so, it succeeded in protecting the health of its employees as best as possible and also supporting long-standing service partners in Europe.

Crisis-proof and adaptable

The revenue decline of 2.2 percent in the Business Field Road Logistics is contrasted by a revenue increase of 5.2 percent in the Business Field Air & Sea Logistics. The business field benefited from its own air freight charter capacities and the high freight rates for intercontinental transports. The number of shipments at group level decreased by 2.5 percent to 78.6 million, while the tonnage fell by 2.9 percent to 39.8 million tons.

“After a good first quarter, lockdowns in many European countries followed, resulting in drastic declines in shipments in land transport,” explains Burkhard Eling, CEO of DACHSER. “However, from June onwards, a significant recovery set in, with volumes that were almost consistently above the level of 2019. Our business model has proven to be crisis-proof, growth-oriented, and highly adaptable,” Eling summarizes positively.

Business development in detail

The Business Field Road Logistics, in which DACHSER combines the transport and warehousing of industrial and consumer goods (European Logistics) as well as food (Food Logistics), did not lose any of its growth dynamics in 2020. However, the volume declines in Europe due to lockdowns in April and May, which particularly affected the European Logistics business units in France and the Iberian Peninsula, could not be completely made up by the end of the year. Thus, the consolidated net revenue of the Road Logistics business field fell by 2.2 percent to around 4.50 billion euros.

While the Business Line European Logistics recorded a revenue decline of 3.2 percent to 3.52 billion euros, DACHSER Food Logistics was able to increase its revenue by 1.9 percent to 982 million euros. The business unit experienced a comparatively turbulent year, characterized on one hand by panic buying in the grocery retail sector, and on the other hand by repeated closures of the gastronomy, hotel, and event sectors in Germany. However, the business unit managed to compensate for the shipment declines in these sectors with new customer acquisitions and volume increases for grocery retail. In the entire year, DACHSER Food Logistics was able to increase its transported tonnage by 1.6 percent.

Air and sea freight benefit from high rates

The revenue of the Business Field Air & Sea Logistics benefited in 2020 from tight capacities in air and sea freight and correspondingly high freight rates. Driven by the Asia business, the business field increased its revenue by 5.2 percent to 1.20 billion euros. “We quickly reacted to the capacity bottlenecks in air freight and built our own capacities with charter planes, first for medical supplies, then also for other goods from our customers. Overall, we successfully handled around 150 of our own charter flights between Europe, Asia, and the USA in 2020,” explains Burkhard Eling. In sea freight, tight capacities and a pronounced shortage of empty containers created a volatile market and sharply rising freight rates. The development particularly benefited LCL traffic, the so-called “groupage of the oceans.” “For this demanding service, we see great potential. Therefore, we will continue to expand the frequency, capacity, and quality of our LCL traffic and promote seamless connectivity to our European groupage network,” says Eling.

DACHSER did not let the Corona crisis take the reins of action from it, according to Eling. This applies both to the generational change in the management board, which was prepared in 2020 and completed on January 1, 2021, as well as to investment planning. “Last year, we invested 142.6 million euros in our global logistics network. For 2021, we will increase this amount to 190 million euros, especially to create additional capacities in contract logistics and to further drive the digitization of processes and business models.” A significant role is played by the newly created board department “IT & Development” under the leadership of Chief Development Officer Stefan Hohm.

High equity ratio forms the backbone

The high equity ratio of 61.6 percent and the clear commitment of the shareholders to the family-owned company DACHSER provide, according to Eling, the support to continue the proven policy of growth from its own strength. The Corona crisis has also strengthened the commitment to training, particularly of drivers and skilled workers, which is deeply rooted in DACHSER’s corporate culture. In 2020, despite the restrictions of the Corona crisis, 625 new trainees and dual students started their careers at DACHSER in Germany.

“We will preserve the good while simultaneously increasing agility within the company. This means we will promote the integration of our networks and the introduction of digital technologies, for example, machine learning or swap body localization. We will also intensify our commitment to sustainability and climate protection,” announces Eling. “In the next two years, we will initially expand our emission-free delivery areas, DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery, to at least eleven European cities and deploy additional battery-electric trucks and electrically assisted cargo bikes for this purpose. In addition, we actively support research and testing of hydrogen fuel cell drives for trucks through our membership in the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association.”

Photo: © Dachser