Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of

Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements Under Private Securities Litigation Reform Act Of 1995; Certain Cautionary Statements

Certain portions of this report on Form 10-Q including the sections entitled "Overview," "Summary of First Quarter 2025," "Industry Trends, Trade Conditions and Competition," "Seasonality," "Critical Accounting Estimates," "Results of Operations," "Income tax expense," "Currency and Other Risk Factors" and "Liquidity and Capital Resources" contain forward-looking statements. Words such as "will likely result," "expects", "are expected to," "would expect," "would not expect," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimate," "project," "plan," "believe," "probable," "reasonably possible," "may," "could," "should," "would," "intends," "foreseeable future" or similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition, any statements that refer to projections of future financial performance, our anticipated growth and trends in the Company's businesses, signs of a slowing economy and drop in demand, future supply chain and transportation disruptions and other characterizations of disruptive events or circumstances are forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with the impact of tariffs or other government actions on global trade volumes and economies, and tax audits and other contingencies that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These statements must be considered in connection with the discussion of the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Attention should be given to the risk factors identified and discussed in Part I, Item 1A in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K filed on February 21, 2025 and in Part II, Item 1A in this report. Management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of this filing date and we do not assume any obligations to update these statements except as required by law.

Overview

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (herein referred to as "Expeditors," the "Company," "we," "us," "our") provides a full suite of global logistics services. Our services include air and ocean freight consolidation and forwarding, customs brokerage, warehousing and distribution, purchase order management, vendor consolidation, time-definite transportation services, temperature-controlled transit, cargo insurance, specialized cargo monitoring and tracking, and other supply chain solutions. We do not compete for overnight courier or small parcel business. As a non-asset based carrier, we do not own or operate transportation assets.

We derive our revenues by entering into agreements that are generally comprised of a single performance obligation, which is that freight is shipped for and received by our customer. Each performance obligation is comprised of one or more of the Company's services. We typically satisfy our performance obligations as services are rendered over time. A typical shipment would include services rendered at origin, such as pick-up and delivery to port, freight services from origin to destination port and destination services, such as customs clearance and final delivery. Our three principal services are the revenue categories presented in our financial statements: 1) airfreight services, 2) ocean freight and ocean services, and 3) customs brokerage and other services. The most significant drivers of changes in gross revenues and related transportation expenses are volume, sell rates and buy rates. Volume has a similar effect on the change in both gross revenues and related transportation expenses in each of our three primary sources of revenue.

We generate the major portion of our air and ocean freight revenues by purchasing transportation services on a volume basis from direct (asset-based) carriers and then reselling that space to our customers. The rate billed to our customers (the sell rate) is recognized as revenues and the rate we pay to the carrier (the buy rate) is recognized in operating expenses as the directly related cost of transportation and other expenses. By consolidating shipments from multiple customers and concentrating our buying power, we are able to negotiate favorable buy rates from the direct carriers, while at the same time offering lower sell rates than customers would otherwise be able to negotiate themselves.

In most cases, we act as an indirect carrier. When acting as an indirect carrier, we issue a House Air Waybill (HAWB), a House Ocean Bill of Lading (HOBL) or a House Sea Waybill to customers as the contract of carriage. In turn, when the freight is physically tendered to a direct carrier, we receive a contract of carriage known as a Master Air Waybill for airfreight shipments and a Master Ocean Bill of Lading for ocean shipments.

Customs brokerage and other services involve providing services at destination, such as helping customers clear shipments through customs by preparing and filing required documentation, calculating, and providing for payment of duties and other taxes on behalf of customers as well as arranging for any required inspections by governmental agencies, and import services such as arranging for local pick up, storage and delivery at destination. These are complicated functions requiring technical knowledge of customs rules and regulations in the multitude of countries in which we have offices. We also provide other value-added services at destination, such as warehousing and distribution, time-definitive transportation services and consulting.

We manage our company along geographic areas of responsibility: Americas; North Asia; South Asia; Europe; and Middle East, Africa and India (MAIR). Each area is divided into sub-regions that are composed of operating units with individual profit and loss responsibility. Our business involves shipments between operating units and typically touches more than one geographic area. The nature of the international logistics business necessitates a high degree of communication and cooperation among operating units. Because of this inter-relationship between operating units, it is very difficult to examine any one geographic area and draw meaningful conclusions as to its contribution to our overall success on a stand-alone basis.

Our operating units share revenue using the same arms-length pricing methodologies that we use when our offices transact business with independent agents. Certain costs are allocated among the segments based on the relative value of the underlying services, which can include allocation based on actual costs incurred or estimated cost plus a profit margin. Our strategy closely links compensation with operating unit profitability, which includes shared revenues and allocated costs. Therefore, individual success is closely linked to cooperation with other operating units within our network. The mix of services varies by segment based primarily on the import or export orientation of local operations in each of our regions.

Summary of First Quarter 2025

The significant impacts are discussed within "Results of Operations" and summarized below.

• Strong demand for all our services as importers front loaded shipments in anticipation of higher trade tariffs resulted in increased volumes and sustained high sell and buy rates.

• Ocean containers shipped increased 8% and airfreight tonnage was up 9% compared to a relatively weak first quarter in 2024.

• As a result of the rates and volumes noted above, revenues and expenses in all our services performed well. Operating income increased 24% and net earnings to shareholders increased 20%, from the first quarter of 2024.

• Cash from operating activities was $343 million, up from $257 million from the first quarter 2024.

• We returned $177 million to shareholders in common stock repurchases.

Industry Trends, Trade Conditions and Competition

We operate in over 60 countries in the competitive global logistics industry and our activities are closely tied to the global economy. International trade is influenced by many factors, including economic and political conditions in the United States and abroad, currency exchange rates, laws and policies relating to tariffs, trade restrictions, foreign investment and taxation. Periodically, governments consider changes to tariffs, impose trade restrictions and accords. Currently, the United States has undertaken a substantial global tariff rebalancing effort resulting in significantly higher tariffs on imports. Increased tariffs on certain sectors for Canada, China, and Mexico took effect in the first quarter of 2025, with reciprocal tariffs by country taking effect in April 2025, which are currently paused for 90 days. The United States has also imposed significantly higher tariffs on goods made in China, which are in effect. These measures have led to threatened or actual retaliatory tariffs and trade actions from several countries, including China, the European Union, and Canada. The potential for further tariff changes and trade restrictions remains high, creating an unpredictable environment for international trade. In addition, the "de minimis exemption", which exempted from tariffs shipments of goods made in China and Hong Kong of less than $800, was terminated on May 2, 2025. Changes in import and export regulations may impact the flow of trade and the global economy. We cannot predict how changes in tariffs and trade restrictions will affect our business. As governments impose import and export restrictions, shippers may adjust their sourcing patterns on a temporary or longer-term basis and potentially shift manufacturing to other countries over time. Additionally, the constant changes in trade regulations since the beginning of 2025 are adding complexity to the customs declarations process, making compliance with regulations increasingly challenging.

Doing business in foreign locations also subjects us to a variety of risks and considerations not normally encountered by domestic enterprises. In addition to being influenced by governmental policies and inter-governmental disputes concerning international trade, our business may also be negatively affected by political developments and changes in government personnel or policies in the United States and other countries, as well as economic turbulence, political unrest and security concerns in the nations and on the trade shipping lanes in which we conduct business. The future impact that these events may have on international trade, oil prices and security costs is uncertain. We do not have employees, assets, or operations in Russia, Ukraine, Israel, the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. While limited, any shipment activity is conducted with independent agents in those countries in compliance with all applicable trade sanctions, laws and regulations. We have a branch and employees in Lebanon but no significant assets.

Our ability to provide services to our customers is highly dependent on good working relationships with a variety of entities, including airlines, ocean carrier lines and ground transportation providers, as well as governmental agencies. We select and engage with best-in-class, compliance-focused, efficiently run, growth-oriented partners, based upon defined value elements and are intentional in our relationship and performance management activity. We consider our current working relationships with these entities to be satisfactory. However, changes in the financial stability; operating capabilities, and the capacity of asset-based carriers; capacity allotments available from carriers; governmental regulation or deregulation efforts; modernization of the regulations governing customs brokerage; and/or changes in governmental restrictions, quota restrictions or trade accords could affect our business in unpredictable ways. When the market experiences seasonal peaks or any sort of disruption, the carriers often increase their pricing suddenly. This carrier behavior creates pricing volatility that could impact Expeditors' ability to maintain historical unitary profitability.

The global economic and trade environments remain highly uncertain; including inflation remaining higher than historical levels, volatility in oil prices, high interest rates and the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. In the first quarter of 2025, we saw high demand on exports out of Asia resulting in high average buy and sell rates. However, we believe additional ocean and air transportation capacity will become available if demand softens due to uncertainty in economic and trade regulations, safe passage through the Red Sea resumes, and the revocation of the de minimis tariff exemption for low-value goods made in China and Hong Kong. These conditions could result in declines in average sell and buy rates. We also expect that pricing volatility will continue as carriers adapt to changes in demand, changing fuel prices, available capacity, security risks and react to governmental trade policies and other regulations. Additionally, we cannot predict the direct or indirect impact that further changes in purchasing behavior, such as the evolution of international direct e-commerce platforms, could have on our business. Some customers are relocating manufacturing to other countries to mitigate the impact of higher tariffs on imports, reduce their supply chain risks, address disruptions caused by pandemics and geopolitical issues. These changes could negatively affect our business.

Seasonality

Historically, our operating results have been subject to seasonal demand trends with the first quarter being the weakest and the third and fourth quarters being the strongest; however, there is no assurance that this seasonal trend will occur in the future or to what degree it will be impacted by an uncertain economy. This historical pattern has been the result of, or influenced by, numerous factors, including weather patterns, national holidays, consumer demand, new product launches, just-in-time inventory models, economic conditions, pandemics, governmental policies, inter-governmental disputes and a myriad of other similar and subtle forces.

A significant portion of our revenues is derived from customers in the retail and technology industries whose shipping patterns are tied closely to consumer demand, and from customers in industries whose shipping patterns are dependent upon just-in-time production schedules. Therefore, the timing of our revenues is, to a large degree, impacted by factors out of our control, such as a sudden change in consumer demand for retail goods, changes in trade tariffs, product launches, disruptions in supply-chains and/or manufacturing production delays. Additionally, many customers ship a significant portion of their goods at or near the end of a quarter and, therefore, we may not learn of a shortfall in revenues until late in a quarter.

To the extent that a shortfall in revenues or earnings was not expected by securities analysts or investors, any such shortfall from levels predicted by securities analysts or investors could have an immediate and adverse effect on the trading price of our stock. We cannot accurately forecast many of these factors, nor can we estimate accurately the relative influence of any particular factor and, as a result, there can be no assurance that historical patterns will continue in future periods.

Critical Accounting Estimates

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires us to make estimates and judgments. We base our estimates on historical experience and on assumptions that we believe are reasonable. Our critical accounting estimates are discussed in Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" section of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed on February 21, 2025 to the critical accounting estimates previously disclosed in that report.

Results of Operations

The following table shows the revenues, the directly related cost of transportation and other expenses for our principal services and our overhead expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, including the respective percentage changes comparing 2025 and 2024.

The table and the accompanying discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto in this quarterly report.

Three months ended March 31,
(in thousands) 2025 2024 Percentage
change
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Airfreight services:
Revenues $ 901,760 $ 759,374 19%
Expenses 648,494 537,591 21
Ocean freight services and ocean services:
Revenues 781,665 570,786 37
Expenses 573,901 413,983 39
Customs brokerage and other services:
Revenues 982,994 876,518 12
Expenses 554,280 481,706 15
Overhead expenses:
Salaries and related costs 457,937 413,162 11
Other 165,949 145,460 14
Total overhead expenses 623,886 558,622 12
Operating income 265,858 214,776 24
Other income, net 10,023 18,406 (46)
Earnings before income taxes 275,881 233,182 18
Income tax expense 71,782 62,782 14
Net earnings 204,099 170,400 20
Less net earnings attributable to 304 1,248 (76)
Net earnings attributable to shareholders $ 203,795 $ 169,152 20%

Airfreight services:

Airfreight services revenues and expenses increased 19% and 21%, respectively, during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared with the same period in 2024, due to 11% and 12% increases in average sell and buy rates, respectively, and a 9% increase in tonnage.

Tonnage increased most significantly on exports out of South Asia and North Asia during the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared with the same periods in 2024, as a result of increased market demand primarily from technology customers. Tonnage in the first quarter 2025 was elevated as shippers accelerated orders to front load deliveries in anticipation of higher tariffs.

Average sell and buy rates increased during the three months ended March 31, 2025 on exports out of South Asia and MAIR due to elevated demand and limited capacity. The imbalance between demand and capacity is due to sourcing relocations in those regions and was also fueled by higher volumes due to potential tariff increases.

Seasonal changes in demand, impact from disruptions in the ocean market due to security and port congestion concerns, variable demand for airfreight capacity from direct e-commerce business, including the elimination of low-value de minimis exemption on shipments from China could cause volatility in average buy rates on certain lanes. Additionally, geopolitical concerns, inter-governmental trade disputes, new tariffs on imports into the US and retaliatory actions from other countries create uncertainty in the economy and the trade environment. As shippers and carriers react to these volatile conditions, it may negatively affect demand for airfreight services, which could significantly reduce our volumes and average sell and buy rates in the coming quarters. Though we are unable to predict how these uncertainties and any future disruptions will affect our operations or financial results prospectively, these conditions could result in significant decreases in our revenues and operating income.

Ocean freight and ocean services:

Ocean freight consolidation, direct ocean forwarding, and order management are the three basic services that constitute and are collectively referred to as ocean freight and ocean services. Ocean freight and ocean services revenues and expense increased 37% and 39%, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2025 as compared with the same period in 2024. The largest component of our ocean freight and ocean services revenue is derived from ocean freight consolidation, which represented 71% and 65% of ocean freight and ocean services revenue for the three month ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

Ocean freight consolidation revenues and expenses increased 50% and 48%, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared with the same period in 2024, primarily due to 39% and 38% increases in average sell and buy rates, and an 8% increase in containers shipped. Average buy rates per container increased due to strong demand compared to the first quarter of 2024, as importers front loaded deliveries in anticipation of higher tariffs. Rate declines that started in the fourth quarter of 2024 may continue throughout 2025 as demand softens and capacity increases when additional vessels are brought into service.

Containers shipped were higher, most significantly on exports out of North and South Asia. North and South Asia ocean freight and ocean services revenues increased 43% and 73%, and expenses increased 44% and 80%, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to a relatively weak first quarter in 2024. Increases were primarily due to higher average sell and buy rates and containers shipped due to the factors above. For the three months ended March 31, 2025, North America ocean freight and ocean services revenues increased 22%, compared to the same period in 2024, primarily due to higher revenues on imports driven by higher buy rates on exports while expenses only increased 7%.

Order management revenues and expenses increased 29%, and 32%, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to the same period in 2024 due to increases in volumes from new customers. Direct ocean freight forwarding revenues and expenses increased 3% and 4%, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2025, principally due to higher volumes for ancillary services in the United States.

The global economic and trade environment are increasingly uncertain and dynamic, with increases in trade tariffs and inter-governmental disputes. As shippers and carriers react to these volatile conditions, it may negatively affect demand, which could significantly reduce our volumes and average sell and buy rates in the coming quarters. Further, carriers are adding new vessels which will increase capacity. In addition, if safe passage through the Red Sea resumes, additional capacity will become available due to shorter transit times. Subsequent to March 31, 2025, we are seeing early signs that China to U.S. ocean volumes are declining significantly. While some of those volumes are shifting to other lanes, as customers look to mitigate their exposure to China-specific tariffs, it is too early to know what the overall decline in volumes might be. Speculation regarding additional tariffs may cause more customers to pause or cancel shipments entirely. These conditions could result in significant decreases in our revenues and operating income.

Customs brokerage and other services:

Customs brokerage and other services revenues and expenses increased 12% and 15% for the three months ended March 31, 2025, respectively, as compared with the same period in 2024, primarily due to increases in customs clearances, import services, road freight and warehousing and distribution from higher shipment volumes, principally in North America and Europe. North America and Europe revenues increased 14% and 7%, respectively and expenses increased 16% and 10%, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2025, respectively, as compared with the same period in 2024.

Import services, including charges at ports such as detention, drayage, terminal charges and delivery, and road freight services increased significantly in the first quarter of 2025 because of higher volumes from shippers front loading deliveries in anticipation of higher tariffs.

Customers value our brokerage services due to an increasingly dynamic and complex trade environment, and its impact on the declaration process. They seek knowledgeable customs brokers with sophisticated computerized capabilities critical to an overall logistics management program that are necessary to rapidly respond to changes in the regulatory and security environment. Should international trade slow, lower volumes and pricing could significantly reduce our revenues and operating income.

Overhead expenses:

Salaries and related costs increased 11% for the three months ended March 31, 2025 as compared with the same period in 2024, principally due to increased incentive compensation from improved operating results. Base salaries & benefits and headcount both increased 4% in the three months ended March 31, 2025 compared to 2024.

Historically, the relatively consistent relationship between salaries and operating income has been the result of a compensation philosophy that has been maintained since the inception of our company: offer a modest base salary and the opportunity to share in a fixed and determinable percentage of the operating profit of the business unit controlled by each key employee. Using this compensation model, changes in individual incentive compensation occur in proportion to changes in our operating income, creating an alignment between branch and corporate performance and shareholder interests.

Our management compensation programs have always been incentive-based and performance driven. Total bonuses to field and executive management for the three months ended March 31, 2025, increased 31% when compared to the same periods in 2024, primarily due to higher operating income.

Generally, no management bonuses can be paid unless the relevant business unit is profitable. Any operating losses must be offset in their entirety by operating profits before management is eligible for a bonus. Executive management, in limited circumstances, makes exceptions at the branch operating unit level. Since the most significant portion of management compensation comes from the incentive bonus programs, we believe that this cumulative feature is a disincentive to excessive risk taking by our managers. The outcome of any higher risk transactions, such as overriding established credit limits, would be known in a relatively short time frame. Management believes that when the potential and certain impact on the bonus is fully considered in light of the short operating cycle of our services, the potential for short-term gains that could be generated by engaging in risky business practices is sufficiently mitigated to discourage excessive and inappropriate risk taking. Management believes that both the stability and the long-term growth in revenues, operating income and net earnings are a result of the incentives inherent in our compensation programs.

Other overhead expenses increased 14% or $20 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared with the same period in 2024. This increase is primarily due to technology related expenses along with increased consulting expenses, higher rental and occupancy expenses, and claims partially offset by a $4 million decrease in expenses related to indirect tax contingencies.

We expect to continue to enhance security and internal controls over our technology and systems and plan to deploy additional solutions which will result in increased expenses in the future. We will also continue to make important investments in people, processes and technology, as well as to invest in our strategic efforts to drive organic growth.

Income tax expense:

Our consolidated effective income tax rate was 26.0% for the three months ended March 31, 2025, as compared to 26.9% in the comparable period of 2024. For the three months ended March 31, 2025, and 2024, there was no BEAT expense and GILTI expense was insignificant. All periods benefited from U.S. income tax deductions for FDII as well as available U.S. Federal foreign tax credits principally from withholding taxes related to our foreign operations. We have no liability as of March 31, 2025, for the 15% corporate alternative minimum tax based on financial statement income (BMT), which became effective in 2023 in the U.S., under the Inflation Reduction Act. Some elements of the recorded impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act could be impacted by further legislative action as well as additional interpretations and guidance issued by the Internal Revenue Service or Treasury which could impact the estimates of the amounts the Company would be required to record for BMT in the future.

Currency and Other Risk Factors

The nature of our worldwide operations necessitates transacting in a multitude of currencies other than the U.S. dollar. That exposes us to the inherent risks of volatile international currency markets and governmental interference. Some of the countries where we maintain offices and/or have agency relationships maintain strict currency control regulations that influence our ability to hedge foreign currency exposure. Historically, derivative financial instruments have not been used to manage foreign currency risk. In lieu of the use of foreign currency derivatives we instead try to compensate for these exposures by accelerating international currency settlements among our offices and agents. In the future, we may enter into foreign currency hedging transactions to manage our foreign currency risk. There are also regulatory or commercial limitations on our ability to move money freely, which could be impacted by inter-governmental disputes or new trade restrictions. We had no foreign currency derivatives outstanding at March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024. For the three months ended March 31, 2025, net foreign currency losses were approximately $5 million compared to net foreign currency gains of approximately $7 million in the same period in 2024.

Historically, our business has not been adversely affected by inflation. Beginning in 2021 and continuing through 2024, many countries including the United States experienced increasing levels of inflation. As a result, our business continues to experience rising labor costs, service provider rate increases, higher rent and occupancy and other expenses. Due to the high degree of competition in the marketplace we may not be able to increase our prices to our customers to offset this inflationary pressure, which could lead to an erosion in our margins and operating income in the future. Conversely, raising our prices to keep pace with inflationary pressure may result in a decrease in volume and customer demand for our services. As we are not required to purchase or maintain extensive property and equipment and have not otherwise incurred substantial interest rate-sensitive indebtedness, we currently have limited direct exposure to increased interest expense resulting from increases in interest rates.

There is uncertainty as to how future regulatory requirements and volatility in oil prices will continue to impact future buy rates. Because fuel is an integral part of carriers' costs and impacts both our buy rates and sell rates, we would expect our revenues and costs to be impacted as carriers adjust rates for the effect of changing fuel prices. To the extent that future fuel prices increase, and we are unable to pass through the increase to our customers, fuel price increases could adversely affect our operating income.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our principal source of liquidity is cash and cash equivalents and cash generated from operating activities. Net cash provided by operating activities for the three months ended March 31, 2025 was $343 million as compared with $257 million for the same period in 2024. The increase of $86 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, was primarily due to the collection of accounts receivable and higher net earnings. At March 31, 2025, working capital was $1,650 million, including cash and cash equivalents of $1,319 million. Other than our recorded lease liabilities, we had no long-term obligations or debt at March 31, 2025. Management believes that our current cash position and operating cash flows will be sufficient to meet our capital and liquidity requirements for at least the next 12 months and thereafter for the foreseeable future, including meeting any contingent liabilities related to standby letters of credit and other obligations.

As a customs broker, we make significant short-term cash advances for a select group of our credit-worthy customers. These cash advances are for customer obligations such as the payment of duties and taxes to customs authorities in various countries throughout the world. Increases in duty rates have resulted in increases in the amounts we advance on behalf of our customers. Given the short time frame until we are reimbursed, we do not expect these outlays to have a significant effect on our liquidity. Cash advances are a "pass through" and are not recorded as a component of revenue and expense, except for fees associated with this service charged to customers. The billings of such advances to customers are accounted for as a direct increase in accounts receivable from the customer and a corresponding increase in accounts payable to governmental customs authorities. As a result of these "pass through" billings, the conventional Days Sales Outstanding or DSO calculation does not directly measure collection efficiency.

For customers that meet certain criteria, we have agreed to extend payment terms beyond our customary terms. Management believes that it has established effective credit control procedures and historically has experienced relatively insignificant collection problems.

Our business historically has been subject to seasonal fluctuations, and this is expected to continue in the future. Cash flows fluctuate as a result of this seasonality. Historically, the first quarter shows an excess of customer collections over customer billings. This results in positive cash flow. The increased activity associated with periods of higher demand (typically commencing late second or early third quarter and continuing well into the fourth quarter) causes an excess of customer billings over customer collections. This cyclical growth in customer receivables consumes available cash. However, there is no assurance that this seasonal trend will occur in the future.

Cash used in investing activities for the three months ended March 31, 2025 was $13 million as compared with $10 million for the same periods in 2024, primarily for capital expenditures. Capital expenditures in the three months ended March 31, 2025 were primarily related to continuing investments in building and leasehold improvements and technology and facilities equipment. Total anticipated capital expenditures in 2025 are currently estimated to be $50 million. This includes routine capital expenditures, leasehold and building improvements and investments in technology.

Cash used in financing activities during the three months ended March 31, 2025 was $166 million as compared with $375 million for the same period in 2024. We use the proceeds from stock option exercises, employee stock purchases and available cash to repurchase our common stock on the open market to reduce outstanding shares. During the three months ended March 31, 2025, we used cash to repurchase 1.5 million shares of common stock, compared to 3.0 million shares of common stock during the same periods in 2024.

We follow established guidelines relating to credit quality, diversification and maturities of our investments to preserve principal and maintain liquidity. Historically, our investment portfolio has not been adversely impacted by disruptions occurring in the credit markets. However, there can be no assurance that our investment portfolio will not be adversely affected in the future.

We cannot predict what further impact ongoing uncertainties in the global economy, inflation, future interest rates, and political conflicts and uncertainty, may have on our operating results, freight volumes, pricing, amounts advanced on behalf of our customers, changes in consumer demand, carrier stability and capacity, customers' abilities to pay or changes in competitors' behavior.

We maintain international unsecured bank lines of credit for short-term working capital purposes. A few of these credit lines are supported by standby letters of credit issued by a United States bank or guarantees issued by the Company to the foreign banks issuing the credit line. At March 31, 2025, borrowings under these credit lines were $32 million and we were contingently liable for $72 million from standby letters of credit and guarantees. The standby letters of credit and guarantees primarily relate to obligations of our foreign subsidiaries for credit extended in the ordinary course of business by direct carriers, primarily airlines, and for duty and tax deferrals available from governmental entities responsible for customs and value-added-tax (VAT) taxation. The total underlying amounts due and payable for transportation and governmental excises are properly recorded as obligations in the accounting records of the respective foreign subsidiaries, and there would be no need to record additional expense in the unlikely event the parent company is required to perform.

Our foreign subsidiaries regularly remit dividends to the U.S. parent company after evaluating their working capital requirements and funds necessary to finance local capital expenditures. In some cases, our ability to repatriate funds from foreign operations may be subject to foreign exchange controls, or could be impacted by inter-governmental disputes or new trade restrictions. At March 31, 2025, cash and cash equivalent balances of $561 million were held by our non-United States subsidiaries, of which $11 million was held in banks in the United States. Earnings of our foreign subsidiaries are not considered to be indefinitely reinvested outside of the United States.

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitati ve Disclosures About Market Risk

We are exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of our business. These risks are primarily related to foreign exchange risk and changes in short-term interest rates. The potential impact of our exposure to these risks is presented below:

Foreign Exchange Risk

We conduct business in many different countries and currencies. Our business often results in billings issued in a country and currency that differs from that where the expenses related to the service are incurred. In the ordinary course of business, we create numerous intercompany transactions and may have receivables, payables and currencies that are not denominated in the local functional currency. This brings foreign exchange risk to our earnings. The principal foreign exchange risks to which Expeditors is exposed include Chinese Yuan, Indian Rupee, Euro, Mexican Peso, Canadian Dollar, British Pound and Vietnamese Dong.