Although the current war in the Middle East has brought plenty of question marks for global supply chains, DHL CEO Tobias Meyer feels the international logistics giant has levers to pull to keep freight operations in the region running.
The hostilities have made ocean carriers wary of sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, and forced a mass closure of airspace throughout the Middle East that directly impacted 13 percent of global air cargo capacity, according to data from Rotate.
While some of DHL’s planes are in airports that are closed, “we have flexibility,” said Meyer in a Thursday earnings call. “We have a broad footprint in the region, and what happens in each location can change hour by hour.”
If air constraints in some countries like Bahrain, Kuwait and the U.A.E. linger, the company will rely on countries where airports are still operating, like Saudi Arabia.
“We have a very well-established road network in the Middle East, which enables us to bring cargo to those airports that are open,” Meyer said.
After the earnings call, he confirmed to reporters that DHL is still accepting delivery orders in the Middle East throughout the conflict—albeit with delays—and that deliveries to Israel are currently being moved via Cyprus.
When it comes to ocean freight entering the region, Meyer warned of “significant” delays as more carriers avoid the Persian Gulf to instead offload cargo at Asian ports, namely those on the Indian subcontinent.
“That’s what we’re starting to see now, but I think it’s really too early to tell whether that is a phenomenon that takes a broader hold,” Meyer said. “People have taken more of a wait-and-see approach. This can last for another couple of days, not a couple more weeks.”
According to Meyer, DHL has learned from past disruptions to capitalize on opportunities where customers would prefer to move freight via an alternate route or transportation mode.
“As tragic as these conflicts are and as regrettable, given what we do and the segments we are in, we typically benefit from this turmoil more than we have exposure to the downside,” Meyer said. Citing volume growth in Morocco in early February after flash floods caused mass evacuations, the CEO noted “people tend to rely on providers like us, and with our significant footprint in the region, we are often the go-to party.”
DHL has committed significant capital to the Middle East, investing $575 million in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. through 2030. Roughly $130 million of that is going toward a new regional logistics and distribution hub in Riyadh.
Meyer, who recently signed a five-year extension to stay on as CEO until 2031, reiterated to reporters that DHL still adheres to its investment plans in the region.
DHL’s stock fell more than 5 percent in Thursday trading despite revealing that annual earnings improved amid the geopolitical volatility.
Total revenue for DHL’s fourth quarter declined 2.7 percent to 22.1 billion euros ($25.6 billion) on net income of 1.06 billion euros ($1.2 billion), falling behind prior analyst estimates of 22.4 billion euros in revenue and 1.09 billion euros in net profit.
For the full year, net income increased 5.1 percent to 3.5 billion euros ($4.1 billion), while revenue declined 1.6 percent to 82.8 billion euros ($96.2 billion).
Net income got a major assist from DHL’s 1-billion-euro cost-cutting program, which contributed more than 600 million euros ($696.5 million) to operating profit in 2025.
Throughout the year, international shipments to the U.S. measured in daily weight collapsed 26 percent largely due to the shifts in American trade policy, putting a strain on the logistics giant’s top line.
When asked about the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down President Donald Trump’s IEEPA tariffs, DHL’s chief financial officer Melanie Kreis said it’s still “too early to see a real impact. Everybody is now working through the implications.”
Beyond the tariffs, the U.S.-destined shipments were also weighed down by the elimination of the duty-free de minimis provision. Cargo shipments to the rest of the world remained flat throughout the year.
As a result, DHL Express, the company’s largest money driver by segment, saw revenue declines of 4 percent in the fourth quarter and 2.8 percent across all of 2025.
DHL’s global forwarding division also has been impacted by the volatility and lower freight rates, with air freight volumes declining 2 percent in the final quarter to 459,000 metric tons. Ocean freight volumes saw 0.4 percent growth to 835,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
In 2025, DHL’s volumes moved declined 1 percent across both transportation modes—in air to 1.8 million metric tons and ocean to 3.3 million TEUs.
