Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) has maintained its position as the world’s largest airfreight forwarder by volume, despite DSV’s acquisition of DB Schenker earlier this year.

The Swiss-headquartered logistics group reported 2.2 million tonnes of airfreight handled in 2025, up 7% year on year—outpacing DSV’s 2 million tonnes.

While DSV briefly surpassed K+N in the third quarter following consolidation of Schenker volumes, K+N regained the lead in Q4, handling 595,000 tonnes compared with DSV’s 592,000 tonnes.

For the second half overall, DSV narrowly edged ahead, setting the stage for a competitive battle in 2026.

K+N attributed its strong position to robust demand from cloud and data centre infrastructure clients in the U.S., noting accelerated growth late in the year.

Despite volume gains, financial metrics reflected pressure. Air revenues were flat at Sfr7.3bn, gross profit declined 1% to Sfr1.7bn and EBIT fell 10% to Sfr429m, partly due to yield pressure and exchange rate effects.

CEO Stefan Paul said strategic execution, AI deployment and strong global networks underpin performance, positioning the company for productivity gains over the next 18 months.

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