Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) recorded a positive trend in revenues in the first nine months of the year despite the container volume drop. At the same time, the company reported lower profits.
HHLA said it benefitted from a further rise in storage fees in the container segment resulting from much longer dwell times for containers at HHLA facilities, as well as from a further increase in the rail share of HHLA’s total intermodal transport volumes and temporary surcharges to partially offset the strong rise in energy prices.
Revenue in the HHLA Group rose by 8.7% to €1.17 billion (US$1,17 billion). The company’s operating result (EBIT) decreased slightly by 1.2% to €160.1 million (US$165 million). The EBIT margin amounted to 13.7%, while HHLA’s profit after tax and minority interests came to €69.8 million (US$71.2 million), down strongly from the previous year.
In the container segment, the throughput volume at all of HHLA’s box terminals decreased overall by 5.7%, to 4,87 million TEUs. According to the German port/terminal operator, this was mainly driven by limited handling capacity due to the high utilisation of storage capacity owing to the rise in dwell times for import and export containers at the Port of Hamburg.
Additionally, container throughput was also impacted by reduced cargo volumes from North America and, above all, Far East shipping regions, with the exception of China.
Overall, HHLA now expects a significant increase in revenue, while an operating result (EBIT) in the range of €175 million to €210 million (US$180 million to US$216 million) is still anticipated.
HHLA, also, expects investments within a range of between €210 million to €260 million (US$216 million to US$268 million).
Angela Titzrath, chairwoman of HHLA’s Executive Board, commented, “The war in Ukraine, high energy prices, rising personnel and procurement expenses, disruption in global supply chains and growing recessionary tendencies also impact our business. Despite all this, HHLA achieved a positive result in the first nine months of 2022.”
She added, “As such, we are confident that we will be able to achieve our targets for the 2022 financial year. Thanks to the determined implementation of our strategy, which is focussed on growth and sustainability, we are able to strengthen the resilience of HHLA.”
