HHLA Earnings Break Record

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Mar 2009

HHLA, Hamburg's biggest container terminal operator, reported record earnings and revenue in 2008 but warned it expects a double digit decline in cargo this year. The company also said it will defer half of $1.6 billion of short term investments originally earmarked for 2009-2012. Operating profit at the port-controlled company rose 23.4 percent to $472 million from $383 million in 2007 as revenue climbed 12.4 percent to $1.8 billion.
HHLA, which was partially privatized in an initial public offering in November 2007, boosted net income by 44 percent to $213.3 million.
Container traffic at HHLA's terminals in Hamburg and Odessa, Ukraine, increased just 1.2 percent to 7.3 million TEUs from 7.2 million TEUs, as volume plunged 9.7 per cent in the final quarter.
The container division boosted revenue 14.4 percent to $1.05 billion and operating profit surged nearly 23 percent to $404 million.
The intermodal unit booked an 11.8 percent increase in truck and rail traffic to 1.8 million TEUs with revenue growing 11.4 percent to $492 million and profit five per cent higher at $52 million.
HHLA said world trade will shrink in 2009, resulting in "distinct downturns" in container traffic, particularly in the Asia-Europe trades as well as inner-European volumes transported to Central and Eastern Europe.
For 2009 "on the basis of what we know at present, we are reckoning with distinct falls in revenue, result [profit] and return, but overall again to be operating at a profit," said HHLA executive board chairman Klaus-Dieter Peters.
Peters stressed long term investments in expanding container berths and strengthening quay walls will not be cut. HHLA will also maintain investments to boost efficiency and adapt to increasing ship sizes.

Source: Journal of Commerce