Glossary

A

• At-equity earnings

  Proportionate profit after tax attributable to a joint venture or an associated company, reported in the income statement under financial income.

• Automated guided vehicle (AGV)

  A fully automatic, driverless transport vehicle which carries containers back and forth between the container gantry cranes on the quayside and the block storage yard at the HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder.

• Average operating assets

  Average net non-current assets (intangible assets, property, plant and equipment, investment property) + average net current assets (inventories + trade receivables – trade liabilities).

B

• Block storage

  Automated block storage is used at the HHLA Container Terminals Altenwerder and Burchardkai to stack containers in a compact and efficient manner. Containers are stacked in several storage blocks. Rail-mounted gantry cranes are used to transport and stow the boxes.

C

• CO2e (CO2 equivalent – carbon dioxide equivalent)

  CO₂e is a scale unit of the climate impact of various greenhouse gases. In addition to the do-mining greenhouse gas CO₂, CO₂e includes other gases with a climate impact such as methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). The values between CO₂ and CO₂e are almost comparable due to the energy sources used at HHLA.

• ConRo ship

  A vessel which can transport both containers and rolling cargo (see “RoRo”).

• Container gantry crane

  A crane system used to load and discharge container ships. As ships are becoming larger and larger, the latest container gantry cranes have much higher, longer jibs to match.

• Cost of capital

  Expenses associated with the use of funds as equity or borrowed capital.

D

• DBO (defined benefit obligation)

  Defined benefit pension obligation relating to the pension entitlements of active and former employees, including probable future changes to pensions and salaries, earned and measured as of the reporting date.

• Dynamic gearing ratio

  Financial debt (pension provisions + non-current and current liabilities to related parties + non-current and current financial liabilities – cash, cash equivalents, short-term deposits and receivables from HGV [cash pooling]) / EBITDA.

E

• EBIT

  Earnings before interest and taxes.

• EBITDA

  Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.

• EBT

  Earnings before tax.

• Economy of scale

  A rule of economics which says that higher production quantities go hand in hand with lower unit costs.

• Equity ratio

  Equity / balance sheet total.

• EU Taxonomy

  The EU taxonomy is a legally binding classification system regulated, which defines which economic activities of a company are considered sustainable. Linked to this are concrete requirements for the operation of business activities and the calculation methods of various key figures. The aim is to steer more investments into sustainable companies and technologies and thus support the European Union's 2050 climate neutrality target.

F

• Feeder/Feeder ship

  Vessels which carry smaller numbers of containers to ports. From Hamburg, feeders are primarily used to transport boxes to the Baltic region.

• Financial result

  Interest income – interest expenses +/– earnings from companies accounted for using the equity method +/– other financial result.

H

• Hinterland

  A port’s catchment area.

• Hub terminal (Hinterland)

  A terminal which bundles and distributes consignments as hand­ling hub. HHLA’s rail companies operate hub terminals like this in Ceska Trebova, Budapest, Dunajska Streda, Poznan and Prague.

I

• IAS

  International accounting standards.

• IFRS

  International financial reporting standards.

• Impairment test

  Assessment of an asset’s value in accordance with IFRS.

• Intermodal/Intermodal systems

  Transportation via several modes of transport (water, rail, road) combining the specific advantages of the respective carriers.

• Investments

  Payments for investments in property, plant and equipment, investment property and intangible assets.

N

• North range

  The North European coast. In the broadest geographic sense, this is where all the international ports in Northern Europe from Le Havre to Hamburg can be found. The four largest ports are Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Antwerp.

O

• Operating cash flow

  According to literature on IFRS key figures: EBIT – taxes + depreciation and amortisation – write-backs +/– changes in non-current provisions (excl. interest portion) +/– gain/loss on the disposal of property, plant and equipment + changes in working capital.

P

• Portal crane (also called a rail gantry crane or storage crane)

  Crane units spanning their working area like a gantry, often operating on rails. Also called a storage crane when used at a block storage facility, or a rail gantry crane when used to handle rail cargo.

R

• Revenue

  Revenue from sales or lettings and from services rendered, less sales deductions and VAT.

• ROCE (return on capital employed before taxes)

  EBIT / Average operating assets.

• RoRo

  Short for “roll on, roll off”, RoRo is a means of loading cargo which can simply be rolled or driven onto or off a ship. Most rolling cargo consists of cars of trucks, but project cargo is also transported in this way on special trailers.

S

• Shuttle train

  A train which travels back and forth on one route with the same arrangement of wagons, eliminating the need for time-consuming shunting. HHLA’s rail subsidiaries operate shuttle trains between the seaports and the hub terminals (hinterland).

• Spreader

  Weighing several tonnes, the spreader is the part of a container gantry crane or other crane used to grip then lift or lower containers.

• Standard container

  A TEU is a 20-foot standard container, used as a unit for measuring container volumes. A 20-foot standard container is 6.06 metres long, 2.44 metres wide and 2.59 metres high.

• Straddle carrier (also called a van carrier or VC)

  A vehicle used to transport containers at the terminals. The driver manoeuvres their straddle carrier into position above a container and lifts it up. The vehicles can stack containers up to four high.

T

• Tandem gantry crane

  A highly efficient container gantry crane capable of unloading or loading two 40-foot containers or four 20-foot containers in a single movement. HHLA uses gantry cranes of this kind at the Container Terminal Burchardkai.

• Terminal

  In maritime logistics, a terminal is a facility where freight transported by various modes of transport is handled.

• TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit)

  A TEU is a 20-foot standard container, used as a unit for measuring container volumes. A 20-foot standard container is 6.06 metres long, 2.44 metres wide and 2.59 metres high.

• Traction

  The action of a locomotive pulling a train.

• Transport performance

  A performance indicator used for rail traffic, calculated as the product of the volume transported and the distance covered.

U

• Ultra large vessel (ULV)

  A mega-ship that is at least 330 metres long and/or 45 metres wide. This type of vessel is increasingly being used on routes between the Far East and Northern Europe in particular.

V

• Value added

  Production value – intermediate inputs (cost of materials, depreciation and amortisation, and other operating expenses); the value added generated is shared between the HHLA Group’s stakeholders, such as employees, shareholders, lenders and the local community.