The current year continues to be somewhat difficult for Hamburg-based logistics giant HHLA, especially due to harsh winter weather and construction works. The company’s H1 report showed an overall decrease in containers handled and transported as well as a 35% drop in operating result.
In terms of container handling at HHLA terminals, there was a 6.7% decrease between H1 2025 and H1 2026, from 3.17 million to 2.96 million TEUs. The terminals in Hamburg, which handle the vast majority of the company’s volumes, took the hardest hit with a 7.3% drop from 3.06 to 2.78 million TEUs handled.
“In addition to the weak start to the year due to adverse weather conditions, throughput was impacted by the ongoing modernisation measures at the Hamburg container terminals”, HHLA explained. The situation at the company’s terminals outside of Hamburg was slightly more positive, with 173,000 TEUs handled, +4.3% year-on-year. This was led by a “strong increase in seaborne handling at Container Terminal Odesa”, while the terminals in Trieste and Muuga lost volumes.
Container transport
Container transport also continued to register lower figures compared to last year. In total, HHLA transported 985,000 TEUs during the first half of 2026, 1.2% fewer than the same period in 2025. Both rail and road transport contributed to the decline. The former went down 1% to 855,000 TEUs, while the latter fell by 2.4% to 130,000 TEUs. The decline in rail “was largely due to decreased traffic with the Adriatic seaports, as well as lower transport volumes in the German-speaking countries”, the company said.
Financial situation
HHLA’s half-year report also provided an outlook on the company’s finances. The group’s revenue went up 3% reaching €910.9 million. The main drivers behind this growth were storage fees and necessary price adjustment, HHLA specified. On the other hand, operating result (EBIT) fell sharply from €79.4 million in H1 2025 to €51.3 million during the first half of this year, a drop of over 35%.