Operational disruptions affect HHLA’s half-year results
In the first six months of 2026, the business performance of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) was characterised by challenging geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions. In addition, operations were adversely affected by the harsh winter weather at the beginning of the year, the extensive modernisation measures to automate the Hamburg container terminals and the construction works relating to the rail network, resulting in lower throughput and transport volumes. Group container handling decreased by 6.7 percent to 2,959 thousand standard containers (TEU) (previous year: 3,172 thousand TEU), and container transport volumes decreased by 1.2 percent to 985 thousand TEU (previous year: 997 thousand TEU). Nevertheless, Group revenue rose by 3.0 percent to € 910.9 million (previous year: € 884.5 million). The operating result (EBIT) fell to € 51.3 million (previous year: € 79.4 million).
Jeroen Eijsink, HHLA Chief Executive Officer, said: “The modernisation of our container terminals in Hamburg is a key investment in the future viability of HHLA. Especially in a challenging market environment, strengthening our competitiveness in the long term is of critical importance. That is why we remain fully committed to our investment programme, even though the modernisation works at our terminals and infrastructure works on the German rail network are currently impacting operations. Only by doing so we can lay the foundations for further strengthening the performance of our network and for offering our clients the most reliable service in Europe over the long term.”
Port Logistics subgroup: performance January to June 2026
The listed Port Logistics subgroup achieved a slight increase of 3.0 percent in revenue to € 891.6 million in the first half of 2026 (previous year: € 865.7 million). The increase was driven in particular by additional revenue from storage fees, necessary price adjustments and an advantageous revenue mix. The operating result (EBIT) fell strongly to € 43.7 million (previous year: € 72.4 million) as a result of operational disruptions. The EBIT margin decreased to 4.9 percent (previous year: 8.4 percent). Profit after tax and minority interests came to € – 8.3 million (previous year: € 15.3 million).
In the Container segment, container throughput at HHLA’s container terminals fell significantly in the first half of 2026 by 6.7 percent to 2,959 thousand TEU (previous year: 3,172 thousand TEU).
Compared to the same period last year, throughput at the Hamburg container terminals fell by 7.3 percent to 2,786 thousand TEU (previous year: 3,006 thousand TEU). In addition to the weak start to the year due to adverse weather conditions, throughput was impacted by the ongoing modernisation measures at the Hamburg container terminals. Further headwinds arose from geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the associated changes in international trade flows, as well as from service-related and customer-related shifts as a result of the restructuring of alliances. The drop in volumes on key overseas routes and feeder services was only partially offset by growth in other shipping regions. The proportion of seaborne handling by feeders was 19.5 percent (previous year: 19.6 percent).
Meanwhile, the international container terminals reported a 4.6 percent rise in throughput volume to 173 thousand TEU (previous year: 165 thousand TEU). This was largely due to the strong increase in seaborne handling at Container Terminal Odessa (CTO). By contrast, seaborne handling volumes were down at the multifunctional terminals HHLA TK Estonia and HHLA PLT Italy. The reasons for this decline included the difficult economic situation in Estonia, as well as re-routings in the Mediterranean as a result of geopolitical tensions.
Despite declining volumes, Container segment revenue was virtually unchanged year-on-year at € 426.6 million (previous year: € 426.2 million). This was primarily driven by storage fees due to longer dwell times as well as the positive development at the international container terminals.
The operating result (EBIT) fell by 59.9 percent to € 17.2 million (previous year: € 42.8 million) as a result of a significant increase in expenses. In addition to higher personnel and energy costs, the ongoing terminal modernisation work in particular had an adverse effect on productivity.
The Intermodal segment saw a slight drop in volumes in the first half of 2026. Container transport declined by a total of 1.2 percent to 985 thousand TEU (previous year: 997 thousand TEU). Rail transport fell by 1.0 percent year-on-year to 855 thousand TEU (previous year: 863 thousand TEU). This slight decline in volume was largely due to decreased traffic with the Adriatic seaports, as well as lower transport volumes in the German-speaking countries. Road transport also declined by 2.4 percent to 130 thousand TEU (previous year: 133 thousand TEU). A further major factor was the adverse weather conditions at the beginning of the year.
With a year-on-year increase of 6.3 percent to € 425.5 million (previous year: € 400.5 million), the development of revenue contrasted with that of transport volumes. This was due in particular to necessary price adjustments and a change in the revenue mix. Rail accounted for 86.8 percent of total transport volumes – on a par with the prior-year figure of 86.6 percent.
The operating result (EBIT) amounted to € 47.5 million in the reporting period and was thus 1.6 percent below the prior-year figure of € 48.2 million. The EBIT margin declined by 0.8 percentage points to 11.2 percent (previous year: 12.0 percent). This downward EBIT trend was mainly driven by the decrease in transport volumes. The ongoing operational disruptions caused by construction work on major transport routes and high capacity utilisation at the North German seaports also had a negative impact on earnings.