HHLA reports nine-month results

The logistics provider and container terminal operator’s intermodal segment was especially successful during the period.    Logistics provider and container terminal operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) reported earnings before interest and tax for the first nine months of 2016 rose 2.4 percent from the corresponding 2015 period to 126.9 million euros (U.S. $137.5 million).
   Revenues for the first nine months of 2016 inched up 0.2 percent year-over-year to 871 million euros. The container segment’s revenues slipped 1.2 percent from the first nine months of 2015 to 512.7 million euros, while the intermodal segment’s revenues sped up 6.1 percent to 289.5 million euros. “Our successfully established and expanded intermodal segment has become a dynamic earnings driver for our group,” said Klaus-Dieter Peters, Chairman of HHLA’s Executive Board.
   Container throughput fell 2.1 percent year-over-year to 4.9 million TEUs. However, box volumes recovered in the third quarter, following the negative volumes trend in the first half of 2016. Container volumes in the third quarter alone rose 5.6 percent from the same period last year thanks to an increase in feeder traffic, particularly between Hamburg and Russia.
   Meanwhile, HHLA’s transport companies moved 1.1 million TEUs during the first nine months of the year, a 5.9 percent increase from the corresponding period in 2015.
   “HHLA turned in a satisfactory performance given the still subdued global economic growth, weak global trade, a further slowdown in global container throughput and continued infrastructure deficits,” said Peters.