Top Hamburg port operator trims 2012 earnings forecast amid Euro gloom

HAMBURGER Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), the largest terminal operator based in the Port of Hamburg, has adjusted downwards its forecast for the current financial year on the back of the "looming economic slowdown" and a reduction and rationalisation of sailing schedules by several container shipping lines.

The company now expects 2012's operating profit will be between EUR170 million and EUR190 million (US$209 million-$233.6 million), down from its earlier prediction of at least EUR200 million, owing to the likelihood that cargo volumes will decline and an "unsatisfactory first quarter". In 2011, HHLA's EBIT was EUR207 million.

The lower forecast earnings has prompted a review of its capital expenditure budget for the year, with the company saying in a statement that it is carrying out a "review of the scalability of capital expenditures going on".

The company is now predicting container throughput for the year will remain flat against the 2011 result at seven million TEU. It had earlier targeted volume growth in the region of five per cent for the year, which it said no longer seems achievable given the current operating climate.

Taking the realignment of the intermodal segment into consideration, the company is still aiming for group revenue in the range of EUR1.1 billion, which is again based "on the volume adjustment and productivity lost due to the reorganisation" in the container shipping segment.