Intermodal segment

In the highly competitive market for container traffic in the hinterland of major seaports, HHLA’s transport companies recorded significantly lower volumes in the first half of 2020. Container transport decreased by 8.2 % to 718 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 782 thousand TEU). The decrease in road transport was much more marked than that of rail transport. Rail transport declined year-on-year by 6.9 % to 568 thousand TEU (previous year: 610 thousand TEU). The significant – and for certain routes dramatic – fall in maritime traffic from both the North German and Adriatic seaports were partially offset by strong growth in continental traffic. The downward trend of the previous quarters continued for road transport. Largely due to weak growth in the Hamburg region and a persistently challenging market environment, road transport volumes fell by 13.0 % year-on-year to 149 thousand TEU (previous year: 172 thousand TEU).

With a significant 8.5 % year-on-year decline to € 223.2 million (previous year: € 244.1 million), the decrease in revenue was therefore slightly stronger than the decrease in transport volume. Despite a slight increase in the rail share of HHLA’s total intermodal transportation from 78.0 % to 79.2 %, average revenue per TEU decreased as a result of the disproportionately strong decrease in freight flows with longer transport distances.

The operating result (EBIT) fell by 32.0 % to € 34.5 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 50.8 million). In addition to falling volumes and revenue, this marked decrease was mainly due to increased fluctuations in import and export cargo with a resulting fall in capacity utilisation of rail systems.