Port of Hamburg Earns More Despite Ukraine Turmoil

Germany’s Port of Hamburg reported an increase in revenue and operating result in the 2014 financial year, despite the economic crises in Ukraine and Russia and a slowdown in the growth of the global economy and global trade, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) reports.

The company achieved an operating result of EUR 169 million (USD 192m), up 10 percent compared to the previous year. Preliminary figures show that HHLA generated revenue of approximately EUR 1.2 billion (USD 1.36bn), representing a rise of more than 5 percent on 2013.

Container throughput at the three container terminals in Hamburg increased by a moderate 1.2 percent on the previous year to 7.2 million standard containers (TEUs), impacted by lower feeder traffic with Russia in the second half of 2014.

This rise was not enough to fully offset the drop in throughput at the Container Terminal Odessa in the Ukraine caused by the crisis in Ukraine. Throughput there fell by nearly 30 percent to almost 0.3 million TEU. Total container throughput remained on previous year’s level, at approximately 7.5 million TEUs.

In contrast, HHLA’s Intermodal companies’ transport volume in European seaport-hinterland traffic increased significantly by 9.4 percent to 1.3 million TEUs.

”Our vertical Group strategy proved to be so robust in 2014 that we were still able to generate above-average results even in a difficult operating environment, which included a further delay in the dredging of the river Elbe and the regional crises in Russia and Ukraine,” said the Chairman of HHLA’s Executive Board, Klaus-Dieter Peters.