A large number of companies operate in the sector of freight forwarding services, which operate either as transportation intermediaries or as vertically integrated companies. A good number of companies, in addition to their core business, provide Third Party Logistics services as their clients demand complete solutions for their needs. Particularly, they provide a wide range of services (e.g. storage, organization and management of stock, packing/unpacking, distribution, etc.).
The value of the market of freight forwarding services was on the rise during 2014-2019, registering an average annual growth rate of 7.6%. It is noted that the annual growth rate was continuously increasing from 2016 to 2019 (2015: 3.9%, 2019: 11.8%). However, this upward trend was halted in 2020, as the market value registered only a slight rise of 1.8% compared to 2019. In 2021, with the gradual lifting of restrictive measures, the value of the market of freight forwarding services registered a remarkable rise of 34.8%. This growth rate is due to the increase in transports, compared to 2020, and to the rise in freight prices, especially sea freight.
As regards the breakdown of the market by means of transport, road haulage dominates the sector having a share of 52% in 2021, followed by sea freight (29%) which reported a remarkable increase in 2021, while air and rail freight had a share of 10% and 6.5% respectively and combined freight had a share of 2.5%, during the same year.