Intermodal segment

In the first quarter 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 13.7 % to 398 thousand standard containers (TEU), (previous year: 350 thousand TEU). This trend was driven by growth in both rail and road transport. Compared with the previous year, rail transport increased by 14.7 % to 310 thousand TEU (previous year: 270 thousand TEU). There was above-average growth in traffic between the north German seaports and the Central and Eastern European hinterland, as well as in traffic between the Adriatic ports and the Central and Eastern European hinterland. After a weak quarter in the previous year, road transport recovered well due to the strong increase in delivery volumes, and recorded year-on-year growth of 10.1 % to 88 thousand TEU (previous year: 80 thousand TEU) in a challenging market environment.

At € 123.9 million, revenue was up 22.0 % on the prior-year figure (previous year: € 101.6 million) and thus performed much better than transport volume. This strong growth in revenue was largely due to a further increase in rail’s share of HHLA’s total intermodal transportation from 77.2 % to 77.9 %, combined with a favourable transport mix and longer transport distances.

The operating result (EBIT) rose by 35.1 % to € 25.3 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 18.7 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 impact on the positive EBIT trend.