Leading logistics companies by revenue worldwide 2020

This statistic shows the largest logistics companies worldwide in 2020, based on logistics revenue. Maersk A/S generated worldwide logistics revenue of around 18.8 billion euros in that year. The Danish company is the largest container ship and supply vessel operator in the world.

Logistics industry growth

One could associate the role of the logistics industry as the backbone in the global economy, which is vital to modern economic coordination and growth. Since the first industrial revolution, firms generated an increasing demand for the transportation of goods produced or manufactured. The specialization of countries during the industrialization and pavement of widespread infrastructures, such as railroad, road, sea-freight networks, acted as an impetus to the growth of the global economy. Given the complexities of the modern economy, a multitude of simultaneous factors contributes to the growth of the logistics industry. According to a 2019 survey, logistics industry professionals stated they believe good quality transport infrastructure, favorable government regulations, and access to global value chains are some of the important drivers of logistics market growth worldwide. Another 2019 survey suggested that e-commerce fulfillment is the most resilient with growth potential despite higher trade barriers.

COVID-19 in the logistics industry

An unexpected health shock hit the global economy in 2020, namely the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic stalled the global economic coordination close to the levels never experienced before. Although the logistics industry performs one of the main tasks of the global economy, the enormous decline in industrial production and widely imposed lockdowns obstructed the flows of goods. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global logistics industry has been estimated under three different scenarios growth in terms of gross value added. A delayed curve scenario, which is a long-lasting decline in demand for logistics services due to extended production stoppage and increased risk from additional lockdowns in the world, suggests up to a 1.3 percentage point decline of gross value added by the logistics industry during 2020. Despite the global pandemic, the Chinese logistics market is the only market expected to continue growing throughout 2020 with roughly seven percent according to the baseline scenario.