Audit opinion

Assurance report of the independent German public auditor on a limited assurance engagement in relation to the combined non-financial statement included in the management report

To Hamburger Hafen Logistik und Aktiengesellschaft, Hamburg

Assurance Conclusion

We have conducted a limited assurance engagement on the parts marked with a blue bracket of the combined non-financial statement of Hamburger Hafen Logistik und Aktiengesellschaft, Hamburg, (hereinafter the “Company”) included in several parts of the management report, which is combined with the group management report, to comply with §§ [Articles] 289b to 289e HGB [Handelsgesetzbuch: German Commercial Code] and §§ 315b to 315c HGB including the parts marked with a blue bracket of the disclosures contained in this combined non-financial statement to fulfil the requirements of Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (hereinafter the “Combined Non-Financial Reporting”) for the financial year from 1 January to 31 December 2024.

Not subject to our assurance engagement were the external sources of documentation or expert opinions mentioned in the Combined Non-Financial Statement as well as the voluntary additional information marked with a grey bracket as unassured.

Based on the procedures performed and the evidence obtained, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the accompanying Combined Non-Financial Reporting for the financial year from 1 January to 31 December 2024 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with § 315c in conjunction with §§ 289c to 289e HGB and the requirements of Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 as well as with the supplementary criteria presented by the executive directors of the Company.

We do not express an assurance conclusion on the external sources of documentation or expert opinions mentioned in the Combined Non-Financial Reporting, which are marked as unassured, references to sections outside the consolidated non-financial statement as well as the voluntary additional information

Basis for the Assurance Conclusion

We conducted our limited assurance engagement in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 (Revised): Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information, issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB).

The procedures in a limited assurance engagement vary in nature and timing from, and are less in extent than for, a reasonable assurance engagement. Consequently, the level of assurance obtained is substantially lower than the assurance that would have been obtained had a reasonable assurance engagement been performed.

Our responsibilities under ISAE 3000 (Revised) are further described in the “German Public Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Assurance Engagement on the Combined Non-Financial Reporting” section.

We are independent of the Company in accordance with the requirements of European law and German commercial and professional law, and we have fulfilled our other German professional responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. Our audit firm has complied with the quality management system requirements of the IDW Standard on Quality Management: Requirements for Quality Management in the Audit Firm (IDW QMS 1 (09.2022)) issued by the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer (Institute of Public Auditors in Germany; IDW). We believe that the evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our assurance conclusion.

Responsibility of the Executive Directors and the Supervisory Board for the Combined Non-Financial Reporting

The executive directors are responsible for the preparation of the Combined Non-Financial Reporting in accordance with the relevant German legal and European regulations as well as with the supplementary criteria presented by the executive directors of the Company. They are also responsible for the design, implementation and maintenance of such internal controls that they have considered necessary to enable the preparation of a Combined Non-Financial Reporting in accordance with these regulations that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud (i.e., manipulation of the Combined Non-Financial Reporting) or error.

This responsibility of the executive directors includes selecting and applying appropriate reporting policies for preparing the Combined Non-Financial Reporting, as well as making assumptions and estimates and ascertaining forward-looking information for individual sustainability-related disclosures.

The supervisory board is responsible for overseeing the process for the preparation of the Combined Non-Financial Reporting.

Inherent Limitations in the Preparation of the Combined Non-Financial Reporting

The relevant German statutory legal and European regulations contain wording and terms that are still subject to considerable interpretation uncertainties and for which no authoritative, comprehensive interpretations have yet been published. As such wording and terms may be interpreted differently by regulators or courts, the legal conformity of measurements or evaluations of sustainability matters based on these interpretations is uncertain.

These inherent limitations also affect the assurance engagement on the Combined Non-Financial Reporting.

German Public Auditor’s Responsibilities for the Assurance Engagement on the Combined Non-Financial Reporting

Our objective is to express a limited assurance conclusion, based on the assurance engagement we have conducted, on whether any matters have come to our attention that cause us to believe that the Combined Non-Financial Reporting has not been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the relevant German legal and European regulations as well as with the supplementary criteria presented by the executive directors of the Company, and to issue an assurance report that includes our assurance conclusion on the Combined Non-Financial Reporting.

As part of a limited assurance engagement in accordance with ISAE 3000 (Revised), we exercise professional judgment and maintain professional skepticism. We also:

• obtain an understanding of the process to prepare the Combined Non-Financial Reporting.
• identify disclosures where a material misstatement due to fraud or error is likely to arise, design and perform procedures to address these disclosures and obtain limited assurance to support the assurance conclusion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misleading representations, or the override of internal controls.
• consider the forward-looking information, including the appropriateness of the underlying assumptions. There is a substantial unavoidable risk that future events will differ materially from the forward-looking information.

Summary of the Procedures Performed by the German Public Auditor

A limited assurance engagement involves the performance of procedures to obtain evidence about the sustainability information. The nature, timing and extent of the selected procedures are subject to our professional judgement.

In conducting our limited assurance engagement, we have, amongst other things:

• evaluated the suitability of the criteria as a whole presented by the executive directors in the Combined Non-Financial Reporting.
• inquired of the executive directors and relevant employees involved in the preparation of the Combined Non-Financial Reporting about the preparation process, and about the internal controls relating to this process.
• evaluated the reporting policies used by the executive directors to prepare the Combined Non-Financial Reporting.
• evaluated the reasonableness of the estimates and the related disclosures provided by the executive directors.
• performed analytical procedures and made inquiries in relation to selected information in the Combined Non-Financial Reporting.
• performed a site visit.
• considered the presentation of the information in the Combined Non-Financial Reporting.
• considered the process for identifying taxonomy-eligible and taxonomy-aligned economic activities and the corresponding disclosures in the Combined Non-Financial Reporting.

Restriction of Use

We draw attention to the fact that the assurance engagement was conducted for the Company’s purposes and that the report is intended solely to inform the Company about the result of the assurance engagement. Accordingly, the report is not intended to be used by third parties for making (financial) decisions based on it. Our responsibility is solely towards the Company. We do not accept any responsibility, duty of care or liability towards third parties.

Munich, 14 March 2025

PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH
Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft