Intermodal segment

In the first nine months 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 7.8 % to 1,184 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 1,098 thousand TEU). This trend was driven by growth in both rail and road transport. Compared with the previous year, rail transport increased by 7.6 % to 930 thousand TEU (previous year: 864 thousand TEU). There was above-average growth not only in traffic between the north German seaports, but also in traffic between the Adriatic ports and the Central and Eastern European hinterland. Polish traffic also increased significantly following the successful consolidation in the previous year. In a market environment that remains difficult, road transport achieved growth of 8.8 % to 254 thousand TEU due to the strong increase in delivery volumes (previous year: 234 thousand TEU).

At € 367.9 million, revenue was up 13.5 % on the prior-year figure (previous year: € 324.0 million) and thus performed much better than transport volume. In addition to price adjustments, this strong increase in revenue was due in particular to longer transport distances, while the rail share was largely unchanged from the previous year at 78.5 %.

The operating result (EBIT) rose by 16.5 % to € 76.1 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 65.3 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 influence on the positive EBIT trend.