Intermodal Segment

HHLA’s transport companies achieved slight growth in the highly competitive market for container traffic in the hinterland of major seaports. In a declining overall market, transport volumes climbed by 2.7 % to 1,318 thousand standard containers (TEU) compared with 1,283 thousand TEU in the previous year.

Developments in Container Transport

in thousand TEU

The trend in 2015 was driven by an expansion in railway transportation. Building on the previous year’s good figures, there was a further increase of 5.3 % to 1,008 thousand TEU (previous year: 958 thousand TEU). The connections between the Adriatic ports and Central and Eastern Europe achieved above-average growth. Transport volumes from the Polish seaports were also increased significantly. Road transport, however, declined by 4.7 % to 310 thousand TEU (previous year: 325 thousand TEU) due to lower container volumes in the greater Hamburg area.

With growth of 3.6 % to € 364.0 million (previous year: € 351.5 million), revenue outperformed transport volumes. The main reasons for this were changes to the route mix and an increase in the average transportation distance.

Compared to the previous year, the operating result (EBIT) doubled to € 55.2 million (previous year: € 27.3 million) and significantly outperformed volume and revenue growth. The expansion of the company’s own traction since the beginning of 2015 with the acquisition of additional locomotives had a positive effect on productivity rates and led to improved cost structures. Better utilisation of trains and a more beneficial mix of import and export volumes compared to last year also had a positive effect on segment earnings. This encouraging development in segment earnings was also helped by improvements in the cost structure and the implementation of restructuring measures by the Polzug Group, although the company continues to operate in a very challenging competitive environment. In addition, there were one-off effects of approximately € 4.3 million from the disposal of assets and other items.

HHLA continues to invest as needed in the expansion of its intermodal network. On delivery of its order for a further ten multi-system locomotives and two hybrid shunting engines, HHLA’s subsidiary Metrans will have more than 50 shunting engines and locomotives as well as a fleet of around 2,000 carriages. In 2015, Metrans also acquired land in the Hungarian capital of Budapest and laid the foundation for a new rail hub terminal. Its location makes it the perfect interface between the North European seaports and South-East Europe. The terminal is expected to begin operations in 2017. Upon completion, the network of the two HHLA subsidiaries Metrans and Polzug will consist of 13 terminals in the hinterland, of which five will operate as large hub terminals.