The Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) has increased its container throughput[ds_preview] to 3.5 mill. TEU in the first half of 2012. Revenue fell by 5 % to 566.3 mill. € following the realignment of the Intermodal segment and changes in consolidation methods. The operating result (EBIT) rose by 1.2 % to 94.2 mill. €. Profit after tax and minority interests climbed by 20.8 % to 42 mill. €.
In the first half-year, transport volumes came to 697,000 TEU, a decline of 24.7 % largely due to the disposal of the HHLA interest in the unprofitable rail company TFG Transfracht. HHLA realigned its Intermodal segment in the second quarter of 2012 to be in a position to align all the companies in the Intermodal segment under its corporate control systematically with the requirements of maritime logistics. To this end HHLA and Deutsche Bahn demerged their equity interests in the companies for hinterland rail traffic. In view of current economic and throughput forecasts, which predict that the situation will deteriorate further, HHLA is expecting container volumes for the full year 2012 to be roughly at the same level with last year’s figure. Meanwhile, the HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) introduces combined loading and discharging to ship dispatching. By the end of the year, the CTA will have implemented the handling procedure »dual cycle« as the first terminal worldwide, also in terms of transport between container gantry crane and block storage. With the »dual cycle« the unnecessary empty trips are omitted. Because after putting the container on the AGV on land, the crane on its way back to the ship picks up another container that is loaded onto the ship. Since January, »dual cycle« has already been successfully tested.
