European port logistics group Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) generated revenue of over US$1.2 billion and an operating result (earnings before interest and tax) of more than $175 million in the 2015 financial year, which is a 5% reduction compared to the previous year, while the operating result was approximately 7% lower than the previous year’s figure.
The main reasons for these decreases were the economic crises in Russia and Ukraine, the considerable slowdown in economic growth in China and ongoing restrictions in the area of infrastructure, in particular due to the further delay in the dredging of the river Elbe, according to a HHLA press release.
Klaus-Dieter Peters, Chairman of HHLA’s Executive Board, said: “We recorded solid revenue and a respectable operating result in the 2015 financial year, despite an extremely difficult operating environment. However, the development of our revenue and earnings also shows that we cannot remain unaffected by global economic and geopolitical conditions.”
Container throughput at the three container terminals in Hamburg fell by 12.6% on the previous year to 6.3 million TEU.
Peters continues: “As well as the considerable slowdown in economic growth in China, we are continuing to feel the effects of the crises in Russia and in Ukraine, where we operate our Container Terminal Odessa. The resulting decrease in container throughput contrasts with an encouraging rise in our rail companies’ container transport.
“Even though the growth in transported volumes was unable to fully compensate for the drop in container throughput, it becomes clear once again that the strategic expansion of our rail activities was right and is by now making a significant contribution to the economic stability of our company.”
By contrast, container throughout at the container terminal Odessa in Ukraine was only slightly lower than the previous year’s figure, coming in at 0.3 million TEU.
Overall, container throughput decreased by 12.3% to approximately 6.6 million TEU in comparison to 2014’s result of 7.5 million TEU.
HHLA will publish its final results for the 2015 financial year along with a guidance for 2016 on 30 March 2016.
