Stevedore HHLA’s Revenue, Profit Shrink

HHLA, the biggest stevedore in the port of Hamburg, reported revenue and operating profit in 2009 fell steeply from the previous year as container traffic shrunk by a third.

The port-controlled company's operating profit halved to $246 million from $501 million and revenue fell $475 million to $1.38 billion -- in line with forecasts last fall.

Container traffic at HHLA's terminals in Hamburg and Odessa, Ukraine, tumbled 32.9 percent to 4.9 million 20-foot equivalent units from a record 7.3 million TEUs in 2008.

HHLA attributed the decline to Hamburg’s position as the leading Europe-Asia hub while Central and Eastern Europe were particularly hard hit by the global economic downturn.

"In particular, the disproportionate collapse of the national economies of Eastern Europe, which had enjoyed dynamic growth in recent years, caused a steep drop in container throughput," HHLA said.

HHLA intermodal business held up better with traffic declining by a less-than-expected 18.5 percent to 1.5 million TEUs.

"Despite the most serious economic crisis of the post-war era, we have succeeded in maintaining HHLA's financial stability," said Klaus-Dieter Peters, chairman of the HHLA executive board.

"We launched a program of measures in a timely manner which aimed not only at limiting the impact of the crisis but at maintaining future prospects. This has proved very effective."

"A solid balance sheet will enable HHLA to actively develop its business model further,” Peters said.

Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.