Transport Topics' 2025 rankings reveal a split logistics market: freight giants hold, ocean shifts east

Amazon's logistics operation generated an estimated $156.1 billion in gross revenue in the latest reporting period, putting it in a category of its own atop the 2025 Transport Topics Top 100 Logistics rankings for North America. The next-closest provider, C.H. Robinson, posted roughly $16.8 billion, a gap that illustrates just how far the e-commerce giant has extended beyond its retail roots into third-party logistics infrastructure.

The broader picture from Transport Topics is less expansive. A stubbornly slow freight market recovery held back growth for many of the continent's largest logistics firms, and the rankings reflect that pressure up and down the list. For procurement and supply chain leaders evaluating or renegotiating provider relationships, the financial data embedded in the rankings carries real signal about provider scale, margin health, and headcount.

North American 3PL rankings: scale and staffing at a glance

GXO Logistics climbed from fifth to third in the overall rankings, reporting $11.7 billion in gross revenue and $10.1 billion in net revenue against a workforce of 105,000. That net-to-gross ratio points to a heavily asset-oriented model compared to asset-light brokerages, a distinction that matters when evaluating capacity guarantees. J.B. Hunt Transport Services held fourth at an estimated $11.4 billion gross, while UPS Supply Chain Solutions ranked fifth at an estimated $11.2 billion.

Expeditors International of Washington moved up to sixth with $10.6 billion in gross revenue and 18,400 employees, while Ryder System held seventh at $7.7 billion. Kuehne + Nagel's North American operation slipped to eighth at $7.2 billion despite being a top-two ocean forwarder globally. Total Quality Logistics rounded out the top ten at $6.9 billion gross, with a net of $1.4 billion and 9,000 employees, reflecting its freight brokerage focus.

Further down the list, several firms showed notable rank movement. RXO jumped from 20th to 16th with $4.55 billion in gross revenue, and Schneider entered the top 20 at 18th with an estimated $4.3 billion. Lineage climbed from 15th to 12th with $5.4 billion, all of it net revenue given its cold storage warehousing model. Flexport moved up sharply from 42nd to 33rd at $2.1 billion, reflecting continued expansion in digital freight forwarding.

Ocean freight: Asian forwarders set the volume ceiling

Transport Topics' companion ocean freight forwarder rankings tell a different geographic story. Sinotrans Ltd. of China led all forwarders globally with nearly 4.87 million containers, well ahead of Switzerland's Kuehne + Nagel at 4.31 million and DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding at 3.31 million. Denmark's DSV ranked fourth at 2.69 million containers.

For North American procurement teams sourcing trans-Pacific capacity, the dominance of Asian and European forwarders at the top of the volume rankings has direct contract implications. The first U.S.-headquartered firm on the ocean list is C.H. Robinson, ranked 10th globally at an estimated 1.43 million containers. Expeditors International appears 19th at an estimated 847,000 containers, and UPS Supply Chain Solutions ranks 32nd at an estimated 525,000. Flexport, at 43rd with 370,000 containers, is the only U.S. digital-native forwarder in the top 50.

The concentration of volume in the top five forwarders, which together account for more than 18 million containers, means that shippers negotiating ocean contracts are effectively dealing with a small set of dominant players. Ceva Logistics, now ranked fifth globally at 1.9 million containers, also appears in the North American Top 100 at 23rd by revenue, giving it dual visibility in both datasets.

What this means for your team

• Benchmark your 3PL's financials against the Transport Topics gross-to-net revenue ratios to assess margin health before renewing contracts in a slow freight environment.
• Audit your ocean freight provider mix against the global volume rankings: if your forwarder sits outside the top 15 by container count, evaluate whether they have the carrier relationships to guarantee space during demand surges.
• For trans-Pacific lanes specifically, verify whether your primary forwarder has a direct operational presence in Asia or relies on agent networks, given that the top four volume leaders are all Asia or European-headquartered.
• Track rank-climbers like RXO, Lineage, and Flexport as potential benchmarking partners or alternative providers; each moved up significantly in the 2025 rankings relative to 2024.