Intermodal Segment

Key Figures

in € million

 

1–3 | 2018

 

1–3 | 2017

 

Change

Revenue

 

101.6

 

101.7

 

- 0.1 %

EBITDA

 

25.1

 

22.4

 

12.2 %

EBITDA margin in %

 

24.8

 

22.0

 

2.8 pp

EBIT

 

18.7

 

16.5

 

13.4 %

EBIT margin in %

 

18.4

 

16.2

 

2.2 pp

Container transport in thousand TEU

 

350

 

370

 

- 5.3 %

The scheduled realignment of Polish traffic resulted in a temporary decline in the transport performance in the first quarter of 2018. Container transport decreased by 5.3 % to 350 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 370 thousand TEU) in the period under review.

The decline concerned both rail and road transport. Compared with the strong first quarter of 2017, rail transport was down 4.5 % to 270 thousand TEU (previous year: 283 thousand TEU). Due to a significant decrease in freight volume in the greater Hamburg area, road transport fell by 7.8 % year-on-year to 80 thousand TEU (previous year: 87 thousand TEU).

At € 101.6 million, revenue was down 0.1 % against the prior-year figure (previous year: € 101.7 million), but performed much better than transport volume. This stable revenue trend resulted from a slight increase in rail’s share of HHLA’s total intermodal transportation from 76.6 % to 77.2 %, in combination with longer transport distances.

The operating result (EBIT) increased year-on-year to € 18.7 million (previous year: € 16.5 million). In addition to a decrease in the cost of materials, this trend was due in particular to a stable relationship between import and export volumes and changes in the route mix. The terminal in Budapest, which started operations in mid-2017, also had a positive impact on the efficiency of HHLA’s intermodal network. The EBIT margin rose by 2.2 percentage points to 18.4 % (previous year: 16.2 %).

During the period under review, HHLA acquired the remaining shares in the Metrans Group from its management and is now the sole owner of METRANS a.s.