As the peak shipping season rapidly approaches, freight forwarders everywhere are gearing up in preparation. The competition is cutthroat with no one wanting to lose to their competitors and everyone wanting a slice of the pie. With the global freight forwarding market cap currently valued at $190 billion dollars and continuing to grow, let’s review who are the top freight forwarders around the world.

Here are the top 10 ocean freight forwarding companies: Source

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Measured by Ocean TEUs, in Rank 1 we have Kuehne + Nagel (Switzerland) followed by Sinotrans Ltd. (China) and DHL (Germany). These three freight companies have remained at the top of the industry for years and have set the standard for freight forwarders everywhere. Next, we’ll look at who is dominating the freight airspace.

Here are the top 10 air freight forwarding companies: Source

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Measured by air metric tons, the top 3 freight companies are DHL (Germany), Kuehne + Nagel (Switzerland), and DSV Panalpina (Denmark). Unsurprisingly, these three freight companies provide comprehensive coverage to the global air and ocean freight space, hence solidifying their place in the industry. Since Sinotrans Ltd. focused more on ocean freight rather than air freight, it did not make the top 10 air freight rankings but still came in at 12th place.

Overall, we can still see many of these household names taking their place in the logistics industry. While some freight companies focused more on ocean or air freight, the top players in the industry were able to cover both. With peak shipping season rolling in soon and the turmoil contributed by Covid-19, we hope all freight forwarders continue to break personal records and maybe even get onto the ranking list!