Hamburg-based logistics company HHLA had recorded positive figures all across the board throughout the first quarter of 2025. Rail and intermodal services were no exception, with a 30.1% and 28.7% increase respectively compared to the same period last year.
HHLA moved a total of 428,000 TEUs were moved by rail in the first three months of 2025, compared to the 329,000 of Q1 2024. The growth in rail freight volumes was linked to traffic with ports in northern Germany and on the Adriatic Sea. “Moreover, the transport volumes of Roland Spedition were not yet included in the same quarter last year”, the company specified. The modal share of rail for HHLA also slightly grew, from 85.4% to 86.3%.
The positive numbers for rail were not the only factor for HHLA’s intermodal growth. Road transport also registered a significant jump, from 56,000 to 68,000 TEUs (+20.4%), for a total of 496,000 TEUs handled intermodally. These growths in volumes translated into higher financial figures as well. Both the revenue (+33.1%) and EBIT (+42.1%) significantly increased for HHLA during the first quarter of 2025.
The rest of the HHLA Group
The HHLA group did relatively well in all categories during the beginning of this year. The Port Logistics subgroup increased its revenue by 20.1%, while profit after tax went from -3.4 million euros in Q1 2024 to 5.8 million euros in the first three months of 2025. Container throughput at the company’s terminals rose by 5.5% reaching 1,5 million TEUs.
A strong increase was recorded at HHLA container terminals outside the German borders. “In addition to the slight volume growth at the multifunctional terminal HHLA TK Estonia, this was also due in particular to the resumption of seaborne container handling at Container Terminal Odessa (CTO) starting in the third quarter of 2024”, the company said.
HHLA’s Real Estate subgroup also posted positive numbers, despite being a little lower than the rest of the group. Both revenue and EBIT were around 2% higher than in the first quarter of last year. The growth here is attributed to “increased rental income and a decrease in maintenance costs”.