Damco, a leading freight forwarding and logistics service provider reported net revenue in 2012 increased to $3,272 million from $2,752 million in 2011. Gross profit saw a rise of 7 percent to $807 million in 2012.

“I am satisfied about our solid results for 2012,” commented Rolf Habben-Jansen, CEO of Damco.

“We continue to grow and develop our business, in spite of continued difficult market conditions. I am particularly pleased that we have taken full advantage of our acquisition of NTS, and that all of our products continue to grow organically faster than the market.”

Habben-Jansen continued, “In addition to that we have made a number of strategic changes and invested a lot in the future – which masks the underlying trading of our business which is better than the pure numbers show, and that also gives us a lot of confidence going into 2013. This stems from a lot of hard work from everybody across our network”, he added.

Damco shipped 6 percent more ocean volumes compared to 2011.

Airfreight tonnage almost doubled, recording a growth over the prior year of 91 percent. The rapid growth in airfreight was partly due to the full-year effect of the acquisition of NTS (a China-based freight forwarder) in August 2011. But, excluding that effect, Damco’s growth in airfreight was well into double-digit percentages, the company noted.

Supply Chain Management volumes returned to growth and ended 5 percent higher than 2011.

The worsening market conditions as well as implementation costs related to new business, the restructuring in Europe and the cost associated with the headquarters relocation caused downward pressure on Damco’s unit margin profitability, which had a negative impact on Damco’s performance in 2012. EBIT for 2012 was $93million.

Early in 2012 Damco announced a restructuring of its European operations, which were split in East and West Europe regions.

In September, Damco announced the relocation of the global headquarters from Copenhagen, Denmark, to The Hague, The Netherlands. The move is scheduled to be completed in Q1 2013.

In October, Damco acquired the freight forwarder Pacific Network Global Logistics, which significantly strengthened its position in Oceania.