HHLA’s revenue and earnings increase strongly due to temporary effects

The listed Port Logistics subgroup recorded a strong increase of 12.8 percent in revenue to € 1,057.5 million in the first nine months (previous year: € 937.4 million). The operating result (EBIT) rose year-on-year by 56.7 percent to € 151.3 million (previous year: € 96.6 million). The EBIT margin improved by 4.0 percentage points to 14.3 percent.

In the Container segment, the throughput volume at HHLA's container terminals increased slightly by 1.6 percent to 5,165 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 5,086 thousand TEU). At 4,712 thousand TEU, throughput volume at the three Hamburg container terminals was up 1.3 percent on the same period last year (previous year: 4,654 thousand TEU). The positive development of cargo volumes was largely due to the Far East as well as North and South America shipping regions. The acquisition of an additional feeder service for the Baltic region in the third quarter led to a marginal increase in volumes on feeder services in the reporting period compared with the previous year. Feeder services accounted for 20.0 percent of seaborne handling in the reporting period, which was the same level as in the previous year.

Throughput volumes at the international container terminals in Odessa and Tallinn rose moderately by 4.8 percent to 453 thousand TEU (previous year: 432 thousand TEU), thereby returning to the pre-pandemic level of 2019. Only RoRo ships - and no container ships - were handled at the newest container terminal in the HHLA network in Trieste during the first nine months of 2021.

Segment revenue increased strongly year-on-year by 13.1 percent to € 620.0 million in the first three quarters of 2021 (previous year: € 548.4 million). The slight rise in volume of 1.6 percent was strongly exceeded by the increase in average revenue. Revenue per container handled at the quayside rose by 12.0 percent year-on-year. This was due to a temporary spike in storage fees as a result of ongoing ship delays. Against this backdrop, the operating result (EBIT) increased by 57.2 percent to € 107.9 million (previous year: € 68.7 million) despite the year-on-year rise in additional expenses as a result of the higher storage load. The EBIT margin improved by 4.9 percentage points to 17.4 percent.

In the Intermodal segment, container transport increased strongly by 11.1 percent to 1,254 thousand TEU (previous year: 1,129 thousand TEU). Rail continued to benefit more than road from the recovery in freight volumes that began in the second half of 2020. Rail transport increased by an impressive 14.0 percent year-on-year to 1,021 thousand TEU (previous year: 895 thousand TEU). Growth in the third quarter was slower, however, due to the strong recovery in volume already recorded in the same quarter last year. The growth in volume during the first nine months was widely diversified. In a persistently challenging market environment, road transport volume of 233 thousand TEU was on a par with the previous year (previous year: 234 thousand TEU).

At € 383.2 million, revenue was up by 9.9 percent year-on-year (previous year: € 348.7 million). However, this increase failed to match the development in transport volumes: although the advantageous rail share of HHLA's total intermodal transportation rose from 79.3 percent to 81.4 percent, average revenue per TEU decreased as a result of changes to the structure of freight flows.

In light of the positive trend in volume and revenue, the operating result (EBIT) increased by 27.5 percent to € 79.5 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 62.4 million). This included a higher subsidy for route prices of approximately € 11 million granted retroactively in the third quarter of 2021.