October 28 - Two of the world's largest transport and logistics companies, both with a significant presence in the movement of heavy and OOG project cargoes have reported significant increases in transport volumes in the third quarter of 2009 compared to

However, both Panalpina and Kuehne + Nagel said that nine-month volume growth and gross profit performance remain significantly below expectations.

For Panalpina, volumes fell by 25 percent year-on-year based on a nine-month comparison, although airfreight increased by 10 percent between the second and third quarter.

Kuehne + Nagel's seafreight volumes increased by 11 percent between the second and third quarters and said its gross profit was reported to be 7.3 percent below the figure for the first nine months of last year, whereas Panalpina's gross profit in the first nine months declined by nearly 19 percent year-on-year.