The Hamburg port achieved a 7.3% growth in the container segment in 2025 – much more than Rotterdam (+3.1%) and Antwerp (+0.7%).

TEU versus tonnes

Container growth in Hamburg distinguishes itself even more from Rotterdam when taking volumes into consideration. Yes, there was growth in Rotterdam in terms of TEU, but the tonnage metric fell by 0.2%. “More import containers, lower export volumes due to the weakened European competitiveness, and the decline in transhipment led to increased transhipment of empty containers”, says the Rotterdam port.

By contrast, Hamburg achieved growth in tonnages too – by no less than 4.6%. While the port did not disclose its container tonnage figure for 2025, it likely sits at around 81 million tonnes. Antwerp and Rotterdam still lead the way in Europe with 149.5 and 133.2 million tonnes respectively.

Where does Hamburg’s growth come from? It was Asian exporters in particular that reached Hamburg more and more often. At the same time, policymakers in the White House severely damaged the transatlantic business with their tariffs.

What can this mean?

The difference between owning 95% and 100% of the shares of an entity does not seem to be a massive difference. However, once PoH gains full control of HHLA, it is likely that the company will be delisted from the stock market. This would mean that PoH will have more strategic freedom when it comes to long-term strategies.

On the other hand, it would also remove some of the obligations that a listed company has, such as publicly available quarterly reports and other data sharing practices. This could turn HHLA into a more flexible but less transparent logistics giant with all the consequences that would follow.

Most notably, the railway between Hamburg and Berlin will remain inaccessible until April 2026. There are currently modernisation works ongoing, forcing trains to take detours through Hannover and Rostock.

The Hamburg port was not handed this result on a silver plate. Rather, it faced abrupt route closures for almost an entire month in the summer of 2024. Rail freight traffic was only possible for exceptional cases during the day, RailFreight.com reported at the time.

Even before the summer came to an end, misfortune struck the port once more. Terminal staff went on strike, after which the port could not accept any freight trains coming in. Delays then grew to be as long as 24 hours. Despite this, 2024 turned out to be a good year for rail at the Hamburg port.

Strikes and infrastructure disruptions have become a frequent occurrence in the Hamburg port. In June, port workers went on strike to secure better collective wage bargaining agreements. Throughout July and August, infrastructure disruptions severely affected rail capacity around the port, leading to rail freight being possible “only in exceptional cases during the day.”

METRANS does not expect the situation to improve in the short term: “We feel that we have reached a state in which we will have to exist in the coming months, mainly because the main railway lines are not prepared for such fluctuations in traffic. Unfortunately, these circumstances have a huge impact on transport costs, which we will no longer be able to absorb in the future.”

The July-August traffic restrictions will affect the Hamburg-Veddel line and the line between the Hamburg Central Station and the Hamburg-Norderelbbrücke rail junction. Work will focus on switch and track replacement. In addition, the German IM notified that it would simultaneously carry out bridge work over the Zollkanal, adding even more stress to port terminals and rail operators.

Freight traffic forgotten

Considering the logistical significance that the port of Hamburg has for Germany and Europe, one would expect that DB InfraGO would make strides to ensure smooth operations and alternative routes during the closure. However, this is not the case.

The IM explained that passenger trains will be highly prioritised compared to freight trains. In fact, this is not even about prioritisation since DB InfraGO clarified that freight trains will only transit in exceptional cases during the day, meaning that the port of Hamburg will practically have minimal access to rail routes towards northwestern Germany.

Specifically, DB InfraGO informed that from 15 July to 12 August, rail traffic crossing the Elbe will be available only to passenger trains between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. (16 hours per day). Between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., rail freight will have a 12-hour window to carry out operations.

Understandably, this sharp decline in capacity and flexibility is set to disrupt business. Peter Westenberger, managing director of the association Die Güterbahnen, commented on the situation: “DB InfraGO is choking off the railway crossing of Germany’s second-largest river into Germany’s second-largest city and Europe’s second-largest port for a month in order to carry out renovation work that has not yet been carried out. There are no alternatives. It is unbelievable that rail transport in Germany is so vulnerable due to its infrastructure.”

He also added: “The renovation of the rail network must be accelerated and buffered by the rapid expansion of diversion routes beforehand. On the Elbe in particular, work must urgently begin on the replacement construction of the nearest Elbe bridge in Lauenburg, including line electrification, which was called for years ago as part of the Deutschlandtakt concept, because today the first electrified crossing of the river suitable for freight trains from Hamburg is 166 kilometres away in Wittenberge.”

Also read:

• German network overhaul at full steam; here are the latest updates 

After the floods of early June, which heavily affected German rail freight, and the rail strikes that began in late 2023 and continued through early 2024, there is another reason for the German and European supply chains to be under strain.

Rail freight companies like METRANS warned their customers to prepare for disruptions, as companies still widely deal with the backlog created by problems caused during the past few weeks. With all North Sea German ports on strike today, the rail freight company expects the situation to worsen even more.

According to HHLA, Roland Spedition carries yearly volumes nearing 130,000 TEUs and is one of the largest owner-led container operators for combined hinterland transport in Austria. The logistics giant aims to incorporate Roland Spedition’s network into its own and benefit from links to Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Antwerp, or Koper and Trieste.

At the same time, it aims to pull some of the Austrian company’s resources and use them for business with HHLA-owned shipping terminals in Tallinn, Trieste, and Odessa, as well as hinterland intermodal terminals. It should be noted that apart from rail operations, Roland Spedition also owns a truck fleet, making this combination ideal for first—and last-mile operations in combined transport links.

Also read:

• Port of Hamburg records downward performance in 2023, modest decline also for rail

• METRANS expands Southeast Europe business with Adria Rail’s acquisition

• HHLA Hamburg boards greenlight MSC investment, ‘business is safe’

The conversion of those figures into financial numbers showed increased revenue for intermodal operations. Specifically, a year-on-year increase of 4.2 per cent (from 595.4 million euros to 620.5 million euros) was recorded in revenue, a development that should be mainly attributed to the delegation of extra costs to the customers.

However, the decline becomes more apparent when looking at the EBIT results. In this case, the impact of decreased volumes was showcased with a 23.6 per cent drop from 95.3 million euros in 2022 to 72.9 million euros in 2023. Contributing to the decline were also the higher salary fees resulting from collective labour agreements, as well as the expansion of rail operations that did not bring the expected volumes and results, explained HHLA.

Overall negative year

In total, the intermodal and rail operations were not the only ones with a declining output in 2023. According to Angela Titzrath, HHLA’s CEO, “uncertain market conditions and the complicated status of global trade” were reflected in the company’s earnings.

Indicatively, the Group’s revenue decreased by 8.3 per cent (from 1,578.4 million euros to 1,446.8 million euros), while the EBIT decreased by an impressive 50.4 per cent to 109.4 million euros from 220.4 million euros the year before. Container throughput in the port’s terminals also dropped by 7.5 per cent.

Also read:

• German rail development indicates shifts in North Sea ports’ modal split

• HHLA maintains negative trends in 2023

Apart from the metropolitan region of Stuttgart, the Kornwestheim-Hamburg train will also serve other destinations like Frankfurt am Main and Mannheim. On top of that, customers from the Stuttgart region can also benefit from connections between Hamburg, Bremerhaven, and Wilhelmshaven.

Domestic expansion after some time

It has been a while since METRANS introduced some domestic German rail freight market developments. That is for a good reason since the company has been busy expanding its activities in Central Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

For example, the company became the new operator of the Indija terminal in Serbia. This was accomplished by acquiring 51 per cent of Adria Rail’s shares, the company that operated the terminal before METRANS came over. As soon as the terminal takeover was complete, METRANS also launched a connection between its rail terminal HUB in Budapest and Indija, but also between HUB and the port of Rijeka in Croatia, signalling an overall expansion in the Balkans.

The acquisition of the Indija terminal in Serbia is accompanied by two new rail terminals built by METRANS in southern Hungary. One of them is located in Szeged, near the borders with Romania and Serbia, and operations are expected to start in 2025. The other one is in Zalaegerszeg, near the Hungarian borders with Austria and Slovenia, for which construction began in 2021.METRANS will invest roughly 40 million euros in the project.

Also read:

• METRANS connects its ‘new’ Serbian terminal to Budapest
• METRANS expands terminal network along Hungary-Serbia corridor
• Metrans: ‘starting point for 2024 is not very positive’