HHLA’s Container Volumes Down Due to Weak Asia Traffic

German terminal operator Hamburg Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) recorded a 5.7 percent decrease in its container volumes in the first six months of 2016, handling 3.2 million TEUs, against 3.4 million TEUs in the same period last year, due to “persistently weak Asia traffic.”

During the first half of 2016, the Far East-Northern Europe traffic was down by 9 percent compared to the same period last year. The reduction in revenue in HHLA’s container segment was 4.4 percent, taking the figure to just under EUR 337 million (USD 376 million). The segment’s operating result (EBIT) decreased in line with volumes, falling 5.9 percent to approximately EUR 54 million.

“In view of persistently weak growth momentum in global trade and international container throughput, and given the unchanged infrastructure deficits at the Port of Hamburg, container handling volumes at our terminals remained subdued. So far, we have been unable to match the throughput recorded in the same period of the previous year, partly due to a strong performance in the first quarter of 2015,” Klaus-Dieter Peters, Chairman of HHLA’s Executive Board, said.

The group generated revenue amounting to EUR 573.5 million (USD 639 million), compared to EUR 585.1 million in the first half of 2015, a decrease of 2 percent.

At EUR 66.9 million, HHLA’s EBIT was 19.1 percent lower than the previous year’s figure following the one-off expense of EUR 14.9 million for the restructuring of project and contract logistics.

HHLA expects the revenue in 2016 to be in line with the previous year. The operator predicts its EBIT to be in the range of EUR 115 million to EUR 145 million.