Panalpina Annual Report 2006

Reporting Regions
Apac Regional
Competence Center
Based in Bangkok
China / Taiwan Regional
Competence Center
Based in Shanghai
Net revenue: CHF 948 million
Headcount: 2,546
Branches: 92
0 Panalpina Annual Report 2006
Asia / Pacific
Continuing increase in goods flows
to and from the boom region
Spearheaded by China, most countries in the region continued
to register strong economic growth. Panalpina capitalized on the
favorable climate and on clients’ staunch confidence in the Group’s
services to record an impressive 15.6% growth in revenue.
Registering a 10%­plus jump in GDP, the Chinese
economy continued to boom in the reporting
year, with knock­on effects for goods flows across
virtually all sectors.
Palpable growth on all shipping routes
to and from China
On the back of the continuing upswing, Panalpina
recorded double­digit rises across­the­board
and some even massive increases in air freight
tonnages and ocean freight volumes. The number
of shipments in northern and central China was
nearly 20% up, with above­average rises in air
exports and ocean imports. The number of air shipments
transported from what is currently the most
dynamic economic region, China’s Pearl River
Delta area, actually rose by over a third. Panalpina
arranged some 200 full­freighter flights from
China on top of its regular freight shipments with
commercial airlines just to meet the demand
peaks during the busiest season. Despite the continuing
uptrend in freight volumes also on routes
to North America (+10%), Latin America (+20%)
and the Amec countries (+30%), the Chinese­
European links, which account for over 50% of
cargo, remain Panalpina’s main focus for the time
being.
Africa’s third­largest trading partner already
Having risen fivefold in only six years, China’s trading
volume with Africa hit a record USD 50 billion
in 2006, a figure set to double by 2010. This now
makes China the African continent’s third­largest
trading partner, after the USA and France, underlining
the growing importance of this trade route.
Panalpina’s decades­old African branch network
enables it to offer its Chinese customers a wide
variety of attractive forwarding and logistics services,
and the Group is ideally positioned to reap
further benefits from this burgeoning market in
the future. Nonetheless, the growing demand for
other African destinations will necessitate the
provision of new air and sea routes together with
a suitable enlargement of the network in the
medium term.
Sustained demand for logistics solutions
Panalpina witnessed an appreciable expansion
in business in all key industries. In the automotive
sector, where in 2006 China overtook Japan as the
world’s second biggest market and will become
a formidable player in the export market to Europe
and the USA, Panalpina recorded growing demand
for integrated supply chain management solutions.
In 2006, the company managed to clinch profitable
contracts with several global suppliers and a bigname
German automotive group. Elsewhere too,
specifically in the hi­tech, telecommunications and
retail and fashion markets, Panalpina was able to
strengthen its market position by renewing a number
of major contracts and winning new business,
with an increasing number of SMEs joining the key
global accounts in the Group’s customer base.
Demand was also on the rise in the children’s toys,
consumer goods and petrochemical sectors.