45. Leases

Leases as a lessee

For further information about leases within the HHLA Group, please see Notes 6, 12, 14, 16, 23, 38 and 40.

Basic recognition of leases

Pursuant to IFRS 16, all leases are to be recognised on the balance sheet. The following significant leases currently exist within the HHLA Group:

The Group has concluded various lease agreements for a number of properties, technical facilities, and operating and office equipment. Among other things, these agreements relate to land, quay walls, lifting and ground-handling vehicles, container wagons and chassis, as well as IT hardware. In some cases, they include renewal and put options. The renewal options are always for the lessee; the put options can be used by the respective lessor to force a sale.

Leases recognised under liabilities to related parties

The Group rents mega-ship berths from the owner of the port areas, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), which is a related party, see Note 48. The fixed lease initially runs until 2036, but HHLA anticipates that the lease terms of these assets will extend over 50 years (as in the past). The agreements make provisions for the allocation of liability in the event of nullity and the associated premature termination of the lease as a result of conflict with EU law. The Executive Board of HHLA believes the risk of a conflict with EU law is currently very low. During the reporting year, adjustments were made to lease obligations for mega-ship berths as a result of the contractually agreed change in the refinancing interest rates.

Agreements exist between the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and/or HPA and the HHLA Group for the lease of land and quay walls in the Port of Hamburg and in the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district by companies in the HHLA Group. The main contracts expire between 2025 and 2036. Under the terms of the agreements, the lease payments are generally reviewed every five years on the basis of price developments in relevant competing ports or based on appropriate rental indices. The expected interest rate increases for the past periods and the expected interest rate increases up until 2026 have been taken into consideration accordingly in these Consolidated Financial Statements. Leasing expenses for the space in the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district are partly linked to the development of Group income from subletting these buildings.

Without the prior approval of the lessor, the leased areas may not be relet and the buildings on them belonging to HHLA may not be sold or let. Major changes to the terms of subletting agreements also require the approval of the lessor.

Leases recognised under non-current and current financial liabilities

There are leases relating to real estate and movable property at HHLA PLT Italy S.r.l., Trieste, Italy. On the whole, the rents payable for this are fixed and will only change during the course of the agreement as a result of future inflation, if applicable. The company will not have purchase options at the end of the lease agreements. The respective lease agreements have remaining terms of between 5 and 31 years.

There are also leases relating to real estate and movable property at the container terminal in Odessa, Ukraine. On the whole, the rents payable for this are fixed and will only change during the course of the agreement as a result of future inflation. The company will not have purchase options at the end of the lease agreements. The respective lease agreements have terms of between 1 and 33 years.

There are also significant leases for real estate at the container terminal in Tallinn, Estonia. On the whole, the rents payable for this are fixed and will only change during the course of the agreement as a result of future inflation. The company will not have purchase options at the end of the lease agreements. The respective lease agreements will expire in 2062.

The METRANS Group has concluded lease agreements for various motor vehicles and items of technical equipment. These leases have an average term of three to ten years and some include renewal options. The leases concluded for individual items of real estate have a term of up to 30 years and some of them also include renewal options. The lessee takes on no obligations when signing these leases. The METRANS Group also rents a terminal facility for a period of 30 years as part of a concession agreement.

Short-term lease agreements and leases for low-value assets

The Group rents technical equipment, motor vehicles, IT equipment, office furniture, etc. over terms of between one and three years. These lease agreements are either short term or (and) pertain to items of low value. In such cases, HHLA reports neither the rights of use nor lease liabilities. The following table shows the effects of leases on the income statement and other comprehensive income:

Future unrecognised cash outflows

The table below shows the future cash outflows which may be incurred by the lessee and which may not have been recognised when measuring the lease liability:

Leases as a lessor

The Group has signed lease agreements for letting its investment properties on a commercial basis, see Note 24. HHLA has categorised these leases as operating leases because virtually none of the risks and potential rewards associated with ownership are transferred to the Group. The investment properties consist of office space, facilities and a commercial property not used by the Group. These leases have remaining uncancellable lease terms of between 1 and 13 years. After the end of the uncancellable lease period, some contracts give tenants the option of extending the lease for a period of between two years and a maximum of three times five years. Some leases contain a clause under which the rent can be increased in line with market conditions.

During the financial year, income of € 61,122 thousand (previous year: € 58,504 thousand) was earned from letting property, plant and equipment and investment property.

The table below is a maturity analysis of the receivables from operating leases and shows the undiscounted lease payments to be received after the end of the reporting period.

From the lessor’s perspective, there are no lease agreements categorised as finance leases.