Intermodal segment

In the highly competitive market for container traffic in the hinterland of major seaports, HHLA’s transport companies recorded a significant increase in volumes during the first nine months of 2024. Container transport increased in total by 8.1 % to 1,321 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 1,222 thousand TEU).

Rail transport rose year-on-year by 10.2 % to stand at 1,144 thousand TEU (previous year: 1,037 thousand TEU). The strong rise in transport volumes in the German-speaking regions more than offset the decline in traffic with Adriatic seaports and in Polish traffic. The positive volume trend was also aided by the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Roland Spedition GmbH in the second quarter. There was a moderate decline in road transport of 4.1 % to 178 thousand TEU (previous year: 185 thousand TEU).

With a year-on-year increase of 12.0 % to € 521.9 million (previous year: € 465.8 million), revenue growth was stronger than the increase in transport volumes. Alongside routine price adjustments, this was due to rail’s increased share of total transport volumes – up 1.7 percentage points year-on-year at 86.6 % (previous year: 84.9 %).

The operating result (EBIT) amounted to € 62.7 million in the reporting period and was thus 2.2 % above the prior-year figure (previous year: € 61.4 million). The EBIT margin decreased by 1.2 percentage points to 12.0 % (previous year: 13.2 %). In addition to shifts in the cargo mix and increased union wage rates, there were also adverse effects from costs incurred by strike action at the Hamburg terminals in the third quarter, the impact of wide-scale flooding in Eastern Europe and the expansion of operations in rail transport.