Intermodal segment

In the highly competitive market for container traffic in the hinterland of major seaports, HHLA’s transport companies posted a slight decrease in volumes in the first half of 2026. Container transport declined by a total of 1.2 % to 985 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 997 thousand TEU).

Rail transport fell by 1.0 % year-on-year to 855 thousand TEU (previous year: 863 thousand TEU). This slight decline in volume was largely due to decreased traffic with the Adriatic seaports, as well as lower transport volumes in the German-speaking countries. Road transport also declined by 2.4% to 130 thousand TEU (previous year: 133 thousand TEU). A further major factor were the adverse weather conditions at the beginning of the year.

With a year-on-year increase of 6.3 % to € 425.5 million (previous year: € 400.5 million), the development of revenue contrasted with that of transport volumes. This was due in particular to necessary price adjustments and a change in the revenue mix. Rail accounted for 86.8 % of total transport volumes – on a par with the prior-year figure of 86.6 %.

The operating result (EBIT) amounted to € 47.5 million in the reporting period and was thus 1.6 % below the prior-year figure of € 48.2 million. The EBIT margin fell by 0.8 percentage points to 11.2 % (previous year: 12.0 %). This downward EBIT trend was mainly driven by the decrease in transport volumes. The ongoing operational disruptions caused by construction work on major transport routes and high capacity utilisation at the North German seaports also had a negative impact on earnings.