- Hhla closes 2025 with container volumes up 5.4% to around 6.295 million TEU and group EBIT rising 19.5% to €161 million. The company attributes the performance to growth across its European network and to improvements in internal processes.
- Intermodal operations also supported the result. In the first nine months of 2025, container transport by rail and road increased by 13.6% to 1.501 million TEU, while total throughput over the same period rose by 6.7% to 4.798 million TEU. The figures point to faster growth downstream of the terminals.
- Alongside Hamburg, the international network accelerated. Between January and September 2025, volumes at foreign terminals increased by 23.1% to 250,000 TEU. This reflects the contribution from Trieste and, above all, the operational continuity of Odessa following the resumption of maritime traffic from the third quarter of 2024.
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik closes 2025 with a volume growth profile that remained solid throughout the year, despite a complex environment. The picture of the financial year emerges from several updates released during 2025 and from provisional data published in February 2026, showing group container throughput up 5.4% to around 6.295 million TEU. At economic level, group EBIT rose by 19.5% to €161 million, while the company decided not to distribute a dividend. The new CEO Jeroen Eijsink linked the performance to higher volumes, the expansion of container transport by rail and road and work to improve internal processes, while also underlining the difficulties of the market.
The operational centre of gravity remains Hamburg and, more broadly, the group’s German container terminals. Performance indicators through 2025 show progression from the first quarter onwards. Between January and March, throughput at Hhla terminals increased by around 5.5–6% to 1.54 million TEU. Hhla also reported revenue growth of around 20% and a rise in EBIT, despite weakness in the German economy and geopolitical tensions. The trend continued in the first half, with throughput at Hhla container terminals up 7.9% to 3.172 million TEU. Within this figure, Hamburg accounted for the main share of volumes: in the first six months the city’s terminals handled 3.006 million TEU, up 6.9%. At this stage, the group attributed the increase to higher volumes from the Far East, particularly China, and to additional European flows linked to route realignments following the crisis in the Red Sea.
The nine-month reading consolidates the picture and allows growth at the quay to be linked with expansion along the transport chain. Between January and September, Hhla reported container throughput up 6.7% to 4.798 million TEU and, in parallel, container transport up 13.6% to 1.501 million TEU. The gap between intermodal growth and terminal throughput suggests sustained demand for rail and road services supporting the port system, consistent with the group’s positioning in the intermodal segment and the role of European logistics corridors, including the Adriatic–Baltic axis. Within the same perimeter, the company also places the effect of expanding its European network: according to Hhla, integration of the terminal network has begun to generate results, capturing new maritime and inland flows and enabling more effective redistribution of volumes.
In the first nine months of 2025, international terminals increased volumes by 23.1% to 250,000 TEU, compared with 203,000 TEU a year earlier. A decisive contribution came from the terminals in Trieste and Odessa, with Tallinn posting a further slight increase. In Estonia, Hhla TK Estonia in Tallinn is described as a pillar of growth, both in the first-quarter financial report and in the broader context of European network expansion. Tallinn is emerging as a strategic Baltic hub, with growth continuing in 2025 after having helped offset weakness in Trieste in 2024.
In Italy, Hhla operates in Trieste through Plt Italy, a multipurpose terminal in the northern Adriatic port. The sources provided outline a two-stage development: in 2024 the terminal suffered a decline in throughput due to diverted routes and cancellations linked to the conflict in the Red Sea, while in 2025 the downturn was partly offset by network effects and the overall recovery in flows. Trieste falls within the perimeter of terminals contributing to international volume growth in the first nine months and benefits from the strengthening of the European network, at a time when heightened tensions in the Red Sea are prompting some traffic to seek alternatives and encouraging service redistributions.
In Ukraine, the resumption of maritime handling in the third quarter of 2024 generated a decisive contribution in 2025 to rising international volumes. Between January and September, the 23.1% growth at foreign terminals was also linked to the return to operations of the Ukrainian port. This factor has a dual significance: on the one hand it expands volumes within a network operating on a European scale; on the other, it introduces a structural geopolitical variable, as the ability to maintain operational continuity at a Black Sea hub depends on conditions beyond the market.
Antonio Illariuzzi
