Greater Output for HHLA

Hamburg - Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA) improved its operating result (EBIT) by 10 % year-on-year to € 169.3 million in the 2014 financial year. The company’s container terminals in Hamburg set a new throughput record of 7.2 million standard containers (TEU). The Intermodal companies operating in rail and road services in particular achieved another substantial increase of 9.4 % in their transport volumes to 1.3 million TEU. This pleasing development in 2014 validates the measures taken by the company early on to further improve the quality and capacity of mega-ship handling at the terminals and to gear the company up for an increasing number of ultra large vessels calling at the harbour.

HHLA increased its number of employees on the basis of the rise in volumes at the Hamburg terminals, the ongoing expansion of the hinterland networks and the increasing use of its own locomotives. 270 new members of staff took up qualified and future-proof employment positions with the company in 2014. HHLA now has a workforce totalling approximately 5,200 employees.

Furthermore, the company improved the handling and coordination of all modes of transport at the terminals. The Nautical Terminal Coordination system preponderantly operated by HHLA was launched in the last financial year to coordinate mega-ship calls at the port of Hamburg. The “Fuhre 2.0” programme, which enables HHLA to safeguard high-quality truck handling and to spread truck traffic more evenly throughout the day, was continued. With Rail Operation Management, HHLA also further increases rail processing efficiency in Europe’s biggest railway port.

This primarily takes into account that more rail throughput is handled per annum at the Hamburg HHLA terminals than in both the Ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp together. Thus, HHLA is efficiently linking the seaports and the Central and Eastern Europe hinterland in a unique way. Here, the company is focusing in particular on rail as an environmentally friendly mode of transport and extends its maritime transport chains all the way to the Adriatic ports and into Turkey.