HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - The Hamburg port logistics company HHLA earned less than expected last year due to the weakening economy. According to preliminary figures, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to 109 million euros, as Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG announced on Monday evening. The result was therefore below the expected range of 115 million to 135 million euros. In the 2022 financial year, the profit amounted to 220 million euros.

Turnover fell by 8.3 percent to 1.45 billion euros. "In 2023, the war in Ukraine, geopolitical tensions, high inflation and rising interest rates weighed on the global economy and increasingly clouded economic development over the course of the year," explained HHLA CEO Angela Titzrath. This has spread to the entire logistics industry and HHLA's business. "We are systematically implementing our investments in automation to increase efficiency and continuing to drive forward our activities to expand sustainable and networked logistics solutions."

HHLA recorded a 7.5 percent decline in Group-wide container throughput to 5.9 million standard containers (TEU). At the Hamburg container terminals, the decline amounted to 6.3 percent. The transport volume fell by 5.4 percent to 1.6 million TEU. HHLA will present the full business figures on March 21 /akl/DP/mis