International freight lifts UPS profits

United Parcel Service (UPS) said its first-quarter earnings jumped a better than expected 33 percent, Dow Jones reported.

Disclosing its results two weeks early, UPS said that growth was powered by a acceleration in international shipping with daily volumes up 18 percent in the quarter compared with a year ago. US daily shipping volumes rose less than one percent, but that is the first increase in US volume reported by the company in two years.

"We expected the first quarter to be the most challenging of 2010 as the economic recovery gathered steam through the year," Kurt Kuehn, UPS's chief financial officer, said. "As it turned out, revenue was stronger than we expected due to international volume gains, increased yields in the US and growth in forwarding and logistics."

Kevin Sterling, a transportation analyst with BB&T Capital Markets, said: "What I find encouraging is that the growth is top-line driven; it's revenue driven. Really, I think it speaks to the economy gaining steam," he said.

Sterling said that overall, international freight shipments are up 35 percent compared to a year ago, and up between six percent and eight percent over 2008.

(Source: Cargo News Asia)