Intermodal segment

In the highly competitive market for container traffic in the hinterland of major seaports, HHLA’s transport companies recorded a moderate decrease in volumes during the first nine months of 2020. Container transport decreased by 4.6 % to 1,129 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 1,184 thousand TEU). The decrease in road transport was much more marked than that of rail transport. Rail transport declined year-on-year by 3.7 % to 895 thousand TEU (previous year: 930 thousand TEU). The significant – and for certain routes dramatic – fall in maritime traffic from the North German seaports was partially offset by strong growth in continental traffic. The strong recovery in transport volumes in the third quarter helped minimise the impact of decreases across all routes in the first half of the year. In the third quarter, road transport also showed signs of a strong recovery as compared with the previous quarter. However, due to further weak growth in the Hamburg region and a persistently challenging market environment, road transport volumes in the first nine months decreased by 8.0 % year-on-year to 234 thousand TEU (previous year: 254 thousand TEU).

With a significant 5.2 % year-on-year decline to € 348.7 million (previous year: € 367.9 million), revenue performed somewhat worse than transport volume. Despite a slight increase in the rail share of HHLA’s total intermodal transportation from 78.5 % to 79.3 %, average revenue per TEU decreased as a result of the disproportionately strong decrease in freight flows with longer transport distances.

The operating result (EBIT) fell by 18.0 % to € 62.4 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 76.1 million). In addition to falling volumes and revenue, this marked decrease was mainly due to increased fluctuations in import and export cargo with a resulting fall in capacity utilisation of rail systems.