Global freight forwarding market hits €208.1bn in 2025

Transport Intelligence says the global freight forwarding market reached €208.1 billion in 2025 and will keep growing, though at a slower pace through 2030. The shift reflects tighter trade conditions, geopolitical disruption and a move toward technology, sustainability and value-added services.

Why it matters: - The freight forwarding industry is moving out of the post-pandemic rebound and into slower, steadier growth. - That shift changes where forwarders can win business: not from inflated rates, but from efficiency, digital tools and specialized services. - Ti projects the market will still add nearly €25 billion by 2030, showing demand remains resilient even as trade conditions tighten.

What happened: - Transport Intelligence said the global freight forwarding market reached €208.1 billion in 2025, up 4.4% in real terms. - Ti published the data today in London. - The firm projects the market will reach €213.4 billion in 2026 and €233.0 billion by 2030. - The 2030 forecast implies a 2.3% compound annual growth rate over five years.

The details: - Sea freight forwarding grew 4.6% in 2025. - Sea freight growth was driven by higher international trade volumes, multimodal demand and surging e-commerce. - Air freight forwarding grew 4.1% in 2025. - Air freight benefited from sea-to-air conversions, Red Sea disruptions and pre-loading ahead of expected US tariffs. - Asia-Pacific exports were the main growth driver across both modes. - Ti expects growth to slow to 2.5% in 2026. - The report links that slowdown to geopolitical turbulence and weaker trade conditions. - A Middle East conflict that erupted in late February 2026 cut global air cargo capacity by 22%. - That conflict also reduced Asia-Europe routes through the region by 39%. - The IMF projects global real GDP growth of 3.1% in 2026. - The WTO forecasts merchandise trade volume growth of 1.9% in 2026. - Sea freight forwarding is expected to grow at a 2.9% CAGR through 2030. - Air freight forwarding is expected to grow at a 1.6% CAGR through 2030. - Ti says investment in digital forwarding platforms, carbon-efficient routing and cross-border e-commerce logistics will support sea freight outperformance. - Ti said forwarders are now competing more on operational efficiency, technology adoption, customer retention and strategic positioning. - Forwarders are also differentiating through value-added services, sustainability credentials and integrated digital platforms.

Between the lines: - The market is becoming more selective and less dependent on rate spikes. - Structural pressure from consolidation and disrupted trade lanes is likely to favor larger, better-capitalized operators. - The shift of manufacturing from China to Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Mexico is redrawing trade patterns and forcing network changes. - Air freight still has pockets of growth, especially pharmaceuticals and AI infrastructure shipments for hyperscaler developers. - Those niches may help offset broader capacity constraints, but they do not reverse the industry’s slower-growth trend.

What’s next: - Ti expects geopolitical disruption, route reconfiguration and supply chain diversification to keep reshaping freight flows through 2030. - Forwarders are likely to keep investing in network resilience, digital platforms and lower-carbon logistics offerings. - Competition should intensify as the DSV-Schenker merger accelerates consolidation and margin pressure. - Shippers will face more divergence by mode and geography, making routing and service design more important.

The bottom line: - Freight forwarding is still growing, but the easy-money era is over. The winners are likely to be the operators that combine resilience, technology and specialized service.