The 5 top ranking companies make 59% of the Rs 12.9 billion turnover

The Logistics sector boomed in year 2022 in Mauritius, with a turnover increasing by 21% from Rs 10.6 Bn in 2021 to reach Rs 12.9 Bn in 2022. The sector’s profit before tax rose by a whopping 102%, from Rs 344 M to Rs 695 M in 2022. For the Mauritian market, it is interesting to note that 59% of the turnover (Rs 7.6 bn) is made by the five top-ranking companies. As for the profit before tax, these five main companies make up 89% of the total pie. As trade resumes, adapting to new trends such as the D2C (Direct-to-Customer) pattern, the sector will continue evolving, adding layers of digitalization to meet new customer behaviours. Furthermore, Government having announced the opening of two new maritime routes, namely the Indian Ocean route and the East Africa Route, it is highly probable that new products and services in a South-South collaboration approach could be marketed at more affordable costs.

The leader of the market, Velogic, offers a complete portfolio to meet customers’ needs: international freight-forwarding services by air, sea and road for inbound and outbound traffic and UPS franchise for express courier services in the Indian Ocean islands. It relies on a combination of subsidiaries also to generate revenue such as Rennel, which represents FedEx in Mauritius, and Supak, which offers special sugars packaging. However, in 2022, despite an 81% increase in profit before tax, Velogic’s turnover fell by 27%, from Rs 4.6 Bn to Rs 3.4 Bn.

The ENL 2022 annual report gives the following insight on Velogic’s performance: “The financial year was marked by a volatile operating environment that slowed global recovery. Our businesses remained exposed to increasingly difficult and unstable economic and market conditions driven by the pandemic. This uncertain macroenvironment was exacerbated by the inflationary pressures fuelled by the Russia-Ukraine war. Ocean freight remained challenged with ongoing capacity constraints and higher rates, while air freight activities picked up as commercial flights resumed gradually. Courier services continued to benefit from the surge in e-commerce, but experienced a deceleration with the rise of customers travelling in the last quarter.”