HHLA earns more money with hinterland transport than with container handling

The shift within HHLA's business model comes at a time when German seaports overall are under pressure. Container handling, long the core business of the industry, has been weakening for some time, while logistical services around the port are gaining in importance.

By strengthening its rail subsidiary Metrans, HHLA has been pursuing a strategy for years aimed at shifting transport from the seaports to the European hinterland more strongly onto rail. This shift is gaining additional weight as demand for more climate-friendly logistics chains rises and shippers increasingly look for alternatives to pure truck transport.

Metrans as a growth driver

At the same time, classic container handling is losing relative importance for HHLA. According to Group information, business in this area has recently no longer been able to grow at the same rate as the other divisions, although the city of Hamburg, as the majority owner of the company, continues to point to the importance of the port industry for the location.

The HHLA Group is increasingly positioning itself as an integrated logistics service provider, supplying customers in Finland, India and Singapore, among other countries. In addition to container traffic, the company also serves special areas such as biodiesel handling as well as bulk and break-bulk cargo handling.

HHLA sees the diversification of its business as a way to hedge against fluctuations in seaborne cargo volumes. While individual ports in Asia, for example in China, suffered at times from a slowdown in momentum in recent years, other ports and hinterland routes benefited from changing trade flows.

Impact on the business model

Observers see the development as an indication of a structural change in the port industry: competitive advantages are increasingly created less by pure handling capacities and more by the ability to distribute goods flows efficiently and reliably into the hinterland.

HHLA AG is one of the largest port logistics companies in Europe and operates facilities in Hamburg and other locations. By expanding its rail subsidiary Metrans and a growing network of hinterland connections, the Group is trying to reposition itself in an increasingly competitive market.

Market participants assume that the relative shift in favour of the hinterland business will continue to shape the Group going forward. If container handling in the ports does not regain momentum, the share of rail transport and the associated logistics services in HHLA's total revenue is likely to continue to rise.