HHLA
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, known until 2005 as Hamburger Hafen- und Lagerhaus-Aktiengesellschaft, and prior to that as Hamburger Freihafen-Lagerhaus Gesellschaft since 1885, is a German logistics and transportation company specialising in port throughput and container and transport logistics.
Overview
HHLA’s core business is divided into four segments:As of 31 December 2019, the company employed 6,296 people worldwide, and generated revenue of € 1.38 billion.
Shares in the Port Logistics subgroup have been listed since November 2007. Class A shares in HHLA were included in the MDAX from 2008 to 2013 before becoming part of the SDAX in June 2013. The Real Estate subgroup covers the company’s properties that are not specific to port handling, with its shares listed as “Class S”. These cannot be freely traded and are entirely owned by the City of Hamburg. HHLA’s administrative headquarters is known as the Speicherstadtrathaus.
Business segments
Container
HHLA operates three of the four container terminals in the Port of Hamburg:- Container Terminal Altenwerder
- Container Terminal Burchardkai
- Container Terminal Tollerort
HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder CTA is almost completely automated. The shipping company Hapag-Lloyd owns a share of 25.1% in the terminal. Container Terminal Burchardkai is the largest and oldest surviving container handling facility at the Port of Hamburg.
HHLA also owns a container terminal at the Port of Odessa. In June 2018, HHLA acquired the largest Estonian terminal operator Transiidikeskuse AS. At the time, the container terminal had a handling capacity of approximately 300,000 TEU. HHLA’s Container segment also includes a number of services related to container handling offered by its subsidiaries.
Intermodal
This segment covers container transport by rail and road. The sector includes the transport company Metrans and road transport company Container-Transport-Dienst. Metrans operates container trains from its own terminals in the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and neighbouring countries; CTD covers the area surrounding the Hamburg Metropolitan Region by road. In 2012, HHLA sold its 50% share in TFG Transfracht to Deutsche Bahn, and in 2018, Polzug Intermodal merged with Metrans. In 2019, the intermodal companies transported a total of 1.6 million standard containers by rail and road.Logistics
This segment incorporates warehouse logistics and special handling, consulting, and various Start-ups. It includes a number of equity holdings and subsidiaries, including the consulting firm HPC Hamburg Port Consulting. The fruit terminal at O’Swaldkai is also part of this segment. At the same port is a RoRo terminal handling rolling cargo. Together with Salzgitter AG, HHLA also operates the Hansaport, Germany’s largest terminal for bulk cargo.Real estate
HHLA develops, designs and operates commercial properties. These include the Speicherstadt historical warehouse district, the area surrounding the Fischmarkt Hamburg-Altona as well as other logistics facilities and office buildings in and around the Port of Hamburg.Other
The company supports and oversees the development of start-ups and holds investments in technology companies in the areas of drone technology and 3D printing. It co-founded the joint venture Hyperport Cargo Solutions to develop a component to bring Hyperloop technology to ports.In July, 2020,Hamburg Port Consulting announced that it will implement a machine learning solution for predicted dwell time at the Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG ’s Container Terminal Burchardkai.
History
1885–1945
Hamburg’s state quay administration was founded in 1866. Its role included organising transloading for the city and the maintenance of both the wharfs and the equipment and machinery on them. In March 1885, the city founded the Hamburger Freihafen-Lagerhaus-Gesellschaft. As part of Hamburg’s inclusion in the German Imperial customs system, the company’s role was to build and maintain the world’s most modern and largest logistics centre at that time – Hamburg’s Speicherstadt historical warehouse district. It was an Aktiengesellschaft from the very beginning, with the city contributing the property and Norddeutsche Bank the capital. Construction of the Speicherstadt warehouse district began in 1885 and was largely completed by 1912. By 1913, the Port of Hamburg was the third-largest in the world behind the ports of London and New York.During World War I, the Royal Navy blocked the seaports of the German Reich. This brought business in Hamburg and its port to a complete standstill. In the Treaty of Versailles, the allied powers forced Germany to give up the majority of its merchant navy. Companies such as HAPAG were, however, able to retool in the coming years. In 1927, the City of Hamburg became the sole shareholder in HFLG.
The effects of the Great Depression, protectionism in many industrial countries, the seizure of control by the National Socialists and their autarky policy saw cross border trade drop to levels lower than before the crisis. In 1935, HFLG merged with the state quay administration to become the Betriebsgesellschaft der hamburgischen Hafenanlagen. As well as operating the port facilities, it was also responsible for their upkeep and expansion. In 1939, the company was renamed, becoming Hamburger Hafen- und Lagerhaus-Aktiengesellschaft. During World War II, HHLA employed forced labour. Allied bombers attacked the Port of Hamburg multiple times, destroying large parts of it.
1945–2007
The Second World War ended in May 1945. The Port of Hamburg had suffered further damage. Around 90% of the quay shed area was destroyed, and two thirds of the warehouses were left unusable. Large parts of the quay walls lay in ruins. Almost 3,000 shipwrecks prevented regulated shipping movements. The reconstruction of the port was largely completed by 1956.1967 saw the opening of the “Übersee-Zentrum”. It was, at the time, the world’s largest distribution shed and was used as a distribution facility for mixed break bulk cargo. It remained in use until 2016. The first container ship docked in the Port of Hamburg in 1968. It was handled at Burchardkai – where HHLA later built the Container Terminal Burchardkai – using container cranes. In 1970, new port order regulations relieved HHLA of all sovereign functions. This created competition between companies in the port industry. In 1978, HHLA opened its new fruit and cooling centre for fruit and refrigerated goods, which has been modernised multiple times in the years since.
In 1990, many of the former Eastern Bloc states became independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Port of Hamburg was soon able to resume handling cargo for these countries. HHLA began to invest in a number of companies that organised container transport on the railway network, and the volume of cargo that they handled rose. The first container ship was handled at the new Container Terminal Altenwerder on 25 June 2002. On 1 October 2005, the company changed its name to Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG. The abbreviation HHLA remained.