Analyst Note
| Matthew Young, CFA |Wide-moat global forwarder Expeditors International’s second-quarter gross revenue increased 27% year over year, but that was primarily thanks to robust airfreight rates (especially out of North Asia), which spiked due to very tight capacity, particularly in terms of limited belly space capacity. Otherwise, COVID-19 disruption hit hard in the quarter, pressuring trade on key east-west lanes (Asia-U.S. and Asia-Europe) and thus air and ocean freight volume, despite a few bright spots among technology and healthcare end markets. Airfreight tonnage contracted 10% year over year (versus a 7% decline in the first quarter), while ocean freight activity fell 14% (10% last quarter).