GERMANY's DHL air freight volumes climbed in the fourth quarter due to regular peak season surge Red Sea-crisis related traffic as well as greater e-commerce demand, reported London's Air Cargo News.

DHL reported an 8.1 per cent year-on-year rise in air freight volumes to 468,000 tons in the fourth quarter. Fourth quarter air freight revenue in the Global Forwarding, Freight (GFF) division increased by 16.4 per cent to EUR1.6 billion (US$1.73 billion) and gross profit climbed by 21.3 per cent.

Total fourth-quarter revenue in the GFF division was up by 12 per cent year on year to EUR5 billion.

For full-year 2024, air freight volumes were 1.8 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.8 per cent. DHL said that growth was "primarily on trade lanes from Asia and Europe".

Air freight revenues increased by 4.1 per cent in 2024, but gross profit fell by 11.3 per cent with lower freight rates earlier in the year putting pressure on results.

2024 revenue for the GFF division as a whole increased by 1.8 per cent to EUR19.5 billion "due to higher volumes and freight rates".