In a financial 
year defined by the coronavirus pandemic and the associated social and economic upheavals, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) achieved a positive Group operating result (EBIT) of € 123.6 million in 2020 (previous year: € 221.2 million).
In addition to decreases in volume as a result of the pandemic and changes in the market share, provisions amounting to approximately € 43 million also had an impact on the operating result. The provisions will be used to implement restructuring measures in the Container segment. Without the provisions, the Group EBIT would have been approximately € 167 million.
Compared with the previous year, container throughput decreased by 10.6 percent to 6,776 thousand TEU. Transport volume amounted to 1,536 thousand TEU, a slight decrease (- 1.9 percent) on the high level of the previous year. Revenue for the HHLA Group decreased by 6.0 percent to € 1,299.8 million (previous year: € 1,382.6 million). Profit after tax and minority interests dropped by 58.8 percent to € 42.6 million (previous year: € 103.3 million).
Image: Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG
Port Logistics subgroup: business development in 2020
The listed Port Logistics subgroup recorded a significant decrease in revenue of 6.0 percent to € 1,269.3 million (previous year: € 1,350.0 million). Its operating result (EBIT) fell substantially by 46.0 percent to € 110.3 million (previous year: € 204.4 million), thereby decreasing its EBIT margin to 8.7 percent. In addition to decreases in volume as a result of the pandemic and changes in market share, the addition of restructuring provisions in the Container segment had a particularly marked impact. Without these provisions, the EBIT for the subgroup would have amounted to approximately € 153 million. Profit after tax and minority interests decreased by 62.3 percent to € 35.3 million (previous year: € 93.6 million). Earnings per Class A share came to € 0.50 (previous year: € 1.34).
In total, 6,776 thousand standard containers (TEU) were handled at HHLA’s container terminals in the 2020 financial year. This is 10.6 percent less than in the same period of the previous year (7,577 thousand TEU). At the three Hamburg terminals, the decline amounted to 11.1 percent. Virtually all shipping regions were impacted by pandemic-related volume shortfalls. This is especially true for the Far East region, which is of particular importance for HHLA. The loss of a Far East service from mid-May 2020 onwards had a further adverse effect on the volume trend.
Container transport volume decreased slightly by 1.9 percent to 1.54 million TEU (previous year: 1.57 million TEU). The decrease in road transport was much stronger than that of rail transportation.
Click here to read the full press release.
The Annual Report is available here.
For more information:
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG
Bei St. Annen 1
20457 Hamburg, Deutschland
Phone +49 40 3088-0
Email: info@hhla.de