Intermodal segment

In the first half of 2019, HHLA’s transport companies achieved strong growth in the highly competitive market for container traffic in the hinterland of major seaports. Transport volumes rose by 9.6 % to 782 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 713 thousand TEU). This trend was driven by growth in both rail and road transport. Compared with the previous year, rail transport increased by 9.3 % to 610 thousand TEU (previous year: 558 thousand TEU). There was above-average growth not only in traffic between the north German seaports, but also in traffic between the Adriatic ports and the Central and Eastern European hinterland. Polish traffic also increased significantly following the successful consolidation in the previous year. In a market environment that remains difficult, road transport grew by 10.8 % to 172 thousand TEU due to the strong increase in delivery volumes (previous year: 155 thousand TEU).

At € 244.1 million, revenue was up 17.4 % on the prior-year figure (previous year: € 208.0 million) and thus performed much better than transport volume. In addition to price adjustments, this strong increase in revenue was due in particular to longer transport distances, while the rail share was largely unchanged from the previous year.

The operating result (EBIT) rose by 31.6 % to € 50.8 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 38.6 million). This marked increase is primarily due to the positive trend in volume and revenue. Additionally, lower route prices in Germany made it possible to increase further the capacity utilisation of train systems. The application of IFRS 16 did not have a major influence on the positive EBIT trend.