Intermodal segment

In the highly competitive market for container traffic in the hinterland of major seaports, HHLA’s transport companies posted a slight increase in volumes in the first nine months of 2026. Container transport as a whole increased by 0.5 % to 1,509 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 1,501 thousand TEU).

Rail transport rose year-on-year by 0.6 % to 1,308 thousand TEU (previous year: 1,300 thousand TEU). The increase in volume was mainly driven by traffic with the North German seaports and transport to and from Poland. Traffic with the Adriatic seaports and in the German-speaking region continued to decline, however. Road transport volumes of 201 thousand TEU were on a par with the previous year (previous year: 201 thousand TEU). A further major factor in the reporting period were the adverse weather conditions at the beginning of the year.

With a year-on-year increase of 7.8 % to € 651.0 million (previous year: € 604.1 million), revenue growth was stronger than the increase in transport volumes. This was due in particular to necessary price adjustments and a change in the revenue mix. Rail accounted for 86.7 % of transport volumes – on a par with the prior-year figure of 86.6 %.

The operating result (EBIT) amounted to € 78.0 million in the reporting period and was thus 2.3 % above the prior-year figure (previous year: € 76.2 million). However, the EBIT margin fell by 0.6 percentage points to 12.0 % (previous year: 12.6 %). The positive EBIT trend was mainly due to the increase in transport volumes and higher average revenues. By contrast, operational disruptions caused by construction work on major transport routes and high capacity utilisation at the North German seaports had a negative impact.