AI air freight drives Kuehne+Nagel profit increase

American Shipper · The Daily

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The day’s most important moves across every mode — air, rail, road, ocean and the trade that ties them together.

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Wednesday, October 28

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Air freighter being loaded at an airport

Air Cargo

AI air freight drives Kuehne+Nagel profit increase

BY ERIC KULISCH · AMERICAN SHIPPER · OCTOBER 26, 2026

Kuehne+Nagel’s third-quarter pre-tax earnings jumped 53% to $527 million as air logistics revenue rose 38%, helped by demand from cloud infrastructure and semiconductor customers.

THE TAKE — Air volume grew 10% against a market up about 6%, with 60% to 70% of that outperformance coming from share gains, and a large share of growth moved on dedicated freighters. A $242 million cost program lifted operating margin to 18.2% from 13.4%, which is why the full-year EBIT outlook was raised. The soft spot is lightweight e-commerce, which fell significantly as EU customs fees and U.S. tariffs on low-value goods bite.

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USPS delivery trucks and package sorting equipment

Parcel

U.S. Postal Service prepared for peak season surge

The Postal Service says it is ready for a roughly 40% jump in mail and package volume between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 and expects to beat last year’s peak-season delivery times.

THE TAKE — USPS is leaning on infrastructure rather than headcount: it has hired more than 10,000 seasonal workers, down from 14,000 last year, while adding 164 automated package sorters this year for a total of 673 under a $40 billion middle-mile plan. Last peak’s 2.5-day average delivery is the benchmark, so any slippage will be visible. The Postmaster General’s "enough capacity to handle whatever comes our way" is a promise peak will test.

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Delivery vehicles parked at a last-mile fleet depot

Last Mile

Merchants Fleet adds 113 FleetShare vehicles in Puerto Rico

Merchants Fleet expanded its FleetShare managed vehicle access program to Puerto Rico, going live with 113 vehicles supporting an e-commerce company’s last-mile deliveries.

THE TAKE — It’s FleetShare’s first deployment outside the continental U.S. and brings the program to more than 8,000 managed vehicles, a sign shared-fleet models are moving beyond mainland last-mile networks. The release doesn’t name the customer or give contract terms, and says little about how an island fleet is serviced, which is the operational question that decides whether the model travels.

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Cargo aircraft and trucks at Miami International Airport

Air Cargo

Miami airport to deploy shared logistics platform for cargo community

Miami International Airport signed Kalé Logistics Systems to build what is described as the world’s first AI-based air cargo community system, aimed at cutting paper-based processes and truck congestion.

THE TAKE — With more than 1,600 daily truck trips and a record 3.4 million tons of freight in 2025, scheduling and paperwork delays are a real bottleneck, and AI truck-appointment guidance and a document-conversion agent target them directly. U.S. participation in these systems is voluntary, though, and adoption at JFK’s Worldwide Flight Services facility is about 90% versus 60% to 70% elsewhere, so Miami’s results will hinge on how many forwarders sign on during the 18-month rollout.

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Sponsored Insight

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This week on American Shipper TV: how AI-driven demand is lifting air freight, and what the Postal Service’s peak-season preparations mean for parcel shippers. Watch the full segment →

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AI air freight drives Kuehne+Nagel profit increase

AI air freight drives Kuehne+Nagel profit increase

U.S. Postal Service prepared for peak season surge

Merchants Fleet adds 113 FleetShare vehicles in Puerto Rico

Miami airport to deploy shared logistics platform for cargo community

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