HHLA Revenue Grows Despite Delay in Dredging

Despite the slow recovery of the global economy and global trade, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) managed to increase its revenue and operating result in 2014 financial year.

HHLA achieved an operating result of € 169 million – up 10 percent on the previous year. Preliminary figures show that HHLA generated revenue of approximately € 1.2 billion, representing a rise of more than 5 percent on 2013, announced the company in a release.

The figures show that HHLA has increased its Group revenue in the 2014 financial year to around € 1.2 billion (previous year: € 1.14 billion) and reported an operating result (EBIT) of € 169 million (previous year: € 154 million).

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 (TEU), impacted by lower feeder traffic with Russia in the second half of 2014.

“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 Ukraine,” says the Chairman of HHLA’s Executive Board, Klaus-Dieter Peters.

As already announced, the Federal Administrative Court (FAC) in Leipzig has decided to prolong its final decision on the deepening and widening of the navigation channel on the Lower and Outer Elbe River.

In early October, the Court in Leipzig adjourned proceedings by the BUND and NABU environmental associations against the plan approval concerning the dredging of the Lower and Outer stretches of the river Elbe until the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg reaches a decision regarding a pending referral of the interpretive ruling on the Water Framework Directive.

With the first registrations for ultra-large boxships of over 400 meters in length that will visit Hamburg in 2015 already received, time is slipping away to complete Elbe River dredging on time.

Source: hafen-hamburg