Intermodal segment

In the highly competitive market for container traffic in the hinterland of major seaports, HHLA’s transport companies posted a slight increase in volumes in the first half of 2024. Container transport increased in total by 1.8 % to 833 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 819 thousand TEU).

Rail transport rose year-on-year by 4.0 % to stand at 719 thousand TEU (previous year: 691 thousand TEU). The sharp rise in transport volumes in the German-speaking region more than offset the decline in traffic with Adriatic seaports and in Polish traffic. The positive volume trend was also aided by the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Roland Spedition GmbH in the second quarter. There was a strong decline in road transport of 10.0 % to 115 thousand TEU (previous year: 128 thousand TEU).

With a year-on-year increase of 4.7 % to € 327.7 million (previous year: € 313.0 million), revenue growth was stronger than the increase in transport volumes. Alongside routine price adjustments, this was due to rail’s increased share of total transport volumes – up 1.8 percentage points year-on-year at 86.2 % (previous year: 84.4 %).

The operating result (EBIT) amounted to € 39.2 million in the reporting period and was thus 4.7 % below the prior-year figure (previous year: € 41.1 million). The EBIT margin decreased by 1.2 percentage points to 11.9 % (previous year: 13.1 %). In addition to shifts in the cargo mix, there were adverse effects from increased union wage rates and the expansion of operations in rail transport.