Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our conference call on the financial results for the first half of 2024. Before our CFO, Annette Walter, leads you through the financials in detail, let me briefly comment on the market environment in which we currently operate and highlight our major achievements in the first six months. The financial year 2024 is turning into another challenging year for HHLA. We have been experiencing again, how volatile logistics can be. The marked slowdown in the Chinese economy, geopolitical tensions, the military conflict in the Middle East, and the ongoing war in Ukraine, all had an adverse impact on global economic growth. The situation was made worse by persistently high energy costs and increasing compliance requirements, which noticeably burdened Germany's export-oriented industrial output.
This is why forecasts for the German economy this year are edging towards stagnation, while moderate growth is still expected for the global economy. Against this backdrop, we must constantly anticipate and deal with higher volatility. It is the new normal, and we have repeatedly had to rise to such challenges in recent years. In the second quarter of 2024, the military conflict in the Red Sea region and the resulting route adjustment once again forced shipping lines to make numerous changes to their schedules. Despite the need for adjustment, HHLA recorded an increase in container throughput in the first half of 2024. In the container segment, both revenue and earnings were positively impacted by the temporary increase in terminal dwell times, as well as an increase in volume and throughput.
The performance of container transport in the intermodal segment recovered compared to first quarter, when it had to face a decline due to a supply chain disruption. Overall, it grew slightly year-on-year over the entire period from January to June. Revenue also increased, which was partly attributable to the acquisition of the Austrian company, Roland Spedition GmbH. Their activities were consolidated as of June, following HHLA's acquisition of a majority shareholding in April. Despite all these challenges, we have continued to modernize the terminals and expand our European network. At our biggest container terminal in Hamburg, Container Terminal Burchardkai, we are currently switching over to state-of-the-art technologies, while day-to-day operations continue as normal. At present, automated container transporters, new container gantry cranes, and cutting-edge storage cranes are being implemented. As a result, Burchardkai will not only be much more productive, but also more climate friendly.
The IT systems are also being upgraded for the future, and we launched the new terminal control software, N4 at CTB , in May. Another important pillar of our strategy is the expansion of our European network. Our rail subsidiary, Metrans, has made particularly strong progress in this regard for many years now. In the second quarter, it acquired a stake in the previously mentioned Austrian intermodal service provider, Roland Spedition, which is an excellent addition to our existing service portfolio. With regard to sustainability, we have put a further innovation into operation at Container Terminal Tollerort in the Port of Hamburg, the very first hydrogen filling station for port vehicles at a German seaport. Together with our partner companies in the Clean Port Logistics cluster, we recently opened a testing ground at CTT to try the use of hydrogen-powered vehicles in an operational environment.
We also remain committed to the implementation of sustainable, future-oriented logistics solutions and processes at Container Terminal Altenwerder, the world's first fully automated container terminal. After already electrifying the entire AGV fleet at CTA, we began the process of converting the terminal's tractor units to electric drive last week. Last but not least, our freight forwarder, CTD, put its first electrically powered trucks into operation in June. The first half of the year also saw us make some progress with regard to the planned investments of shipping company MSC in HHLA. We actively pursued discussions with the City of Hamburg and MSC following the announcement of the transaction plans in September 2023, to make sure that the transaction was in the best possible interest of HHLA and its stakeholders. This led to rounds of intensive negotiations.
These discussions resulted in a preliminary framework agreement for the Business Combination Agreement, the so-called BCA. In the meantime, we have also been able to successfully negotiate the points that were still outstanding. As a result, HHLA has reached an agreement with MSC and the City of Hamburg regarding the terms of the BCA. It now contains significant provisions and commitments for the continued independent development of HHLA and its business model. This includes, for example, the injection of EUR 450 million of additional capital and firm commitments for our employees, as well as assurance that the neutrality of our business model will be upheld, and that our strategy and investment planning will be continued. By reaching these agreements, we have managed to mitigate risks and safeguard opportunities for HHLA. At the time of finalizing this report, not all conditions precedent had yet been fulfilled.
Subject to their fulfillment, the transaction is expected to be completed in Q4 this year. Based on our strategic alignment, HHLA is well positioned for the future. Even though the situation currently appears challenging in the view of the weak economic environment, the current crisis, and market changes, we firmly believe in the opportunities that lie ahead for HHLA. However, these fundamental changes in the underlying conditions have forced us to adjust the timeframe of our medium-term targets. I will come back to that later when I give you a little more color on our latest forecast for the 2024 financial year. For now, I would like to hand over to Annette, who will take you through the key financial figures.
Thank you very much, Angela, and good afternoon, everyone, also from me. As always, I would like to start directly with the reporting of our container segment. As Angela already mentioned, container throughput at HHLA terminals lost some of its momentum in Q2, but still achieved a slight increase of 2.2% to 2.9 million TEU in the first half of 2024. Due to a cyclical downturn in the second quarter, the throughput trend at our terminals in Hamburg slowed slightly compared to Q1, but still reached growth of 1.7% compared to the previous year. The main driver for this positive development was the increase in volume for South, Central, and North America. There was particularly strong growth in cargo volumes for the United States.
In addition, temporary route adjustments caused by the military conflict in the Red Sea also led to a rise in cargo volumes with other European seaports. By contrast, handling volumes for the Far and Middle East shipping regions continued to decline. Feeder traffic volumes grew moderately as traffic with Sweden and Poland recovered, while Lithuania and Germany recorded strong volume gains. As a result, the feeder ratio of seaborne handling increased by 0.3 percentage points to 18.7%. The international container terminals recorded an increase in throughput volume of 13.5% to 129,000 TEU. This was driven by the strong increase of the multifunctional terminal, HHLA TK Estonia.
This more than offset the fall in throughput volume at HHLA PLT Italy in Trieste, caused by ships originally designated for the Adriatic region being rerouted or canceled due to the military conflict in the Red Sea region. The situation in Odessa remains unchanged. CTO was still operational, but closed for seaborne container handling. Segment revenue increased significantly by 7.5% year-on-year to EUR 378.7 million. This was mainly due to longer dwell times and the resulting increase in storage fees. On top of that, HHLA's international container terminals also contributed to the increase in revenue. EBIT costs increased by 3.4% compared to the previous year, mainly due to volume-related rise in personnel expenses, persistently lower other operating income, and a significant rise in energy expenses.
The measures being implemented since March last year to safeguard earnings at the Hamburg container terminal, as well as further transformation processes, had a favorable effect here. We achieved a sharp decline in expenses for external maintenance services, as well as a reduction in expenses for consulting, services, and insurance. There was also a positive effect from partial reversal of the restructuring provision, as well as from a reduction in depreciation and amortization expenses following the remeasurement of useful economic life for certain assets in the technical equipment and machinery asset class. Against this backdrop, EBIT rose by 80% to EUR 34.4 million, and the EBIT margin increased by 3.7 percentage points to 9.1%. So let's now have a look at the intermodal segment. We can see the opposite trend here.
After a weak Q1, container transport volumes recovered in Q2 and recorded overall growth of 1.8% to 833,000 TEU. Especially rail transport benefited from the strong increase in transport volumes in the DACH region, which more than offsets the decline in traffic with the Adriatic Sea ports and Poland. In total, rail transport increased by 4% to 719,000 TEU. Road transport continued to decline by 10% to 115,000 TEU. As a result, revenue turned positive and recorded growth of 4.7% to EUR 227.7 million. In addition to routine price adjustments, this resulted from a favorable rail share of total transport volume, which increased by 1.8 percentage points year-on-year to 86.2%.
Nevertheless, EBIT of EUR 39.2 million was 4.7% down on the previous year. In addition to the shift in cargo mix, there were adverse effects from increased union wage rates and the expansion of operations in rail transport. The EBIT margin was 11.9%, 1.2 percentage points below the previous year figure. Let's turn briefly to the logistics segment, where we have pooled the vehicle logistics, consultancy divisions, leasing activities, as well as business activities with which HHLA aims to tap new growth fields. In the reporting period, the consolidated companies reported revenue of EUR 38.7 million, which was 5.1% down on the previous year. Revenue development for vehicle logistics, in particular, was weak compared to the strong prior year period.
This was only partially offset by strong revenue growth from intermodal leasing activities. As a result, EBIT was negative at -EUR 1.4 million, whereas vehicle logistics declined sharply compared to the exceptionally profitable previous year, the contribution to earnings from leasing activities grew strongly. At equity, earnings amounted to EUR 2 million for the first six months, 2024, mainly driven by the strong performance of bulk cargo handling. Coming back to the Port Logistics subgroup as a whole, let's have a closer look at our cash flow development. Cash flow from operating activities decreased by around EUR 9 million to EUR 92.6 million as of June 3, 2024. It mainly comprised earnings before interest and taxes, write-downs and write-ups on non-financial assets, and an increase in trade receivables and other liabilities.
The main items with an opposing effect were the increase in trade payables and other liabilities, as well as lower income tax payments. Investing activities resulted in a net cash outflow of EUR 126.1 million, which was around EUR 50 million above the prior year figure. This development was mainly due to scheduled capital expenditure, focusing on the extension of our own transport capabilities for the intermodal business and the transformation program at our Hamburg container terminal. There were no outgoing payments for short-term deposits in the first six months of 2024. As a result, free cash flow of the Port Logistics subgroup was negative at EUR 33.5 million. Financing activities resulted in a cash outflow of EUR 50.8 million.
This resulted mainly from outgoing repayment of financial loans, the repayment of lease liabilities, and from the dividend payment to shareholders totaling EUR 11.8 million. This was offset by payments received from taking out financial loans. In the first half of 2024, there were no proceeds from reduction in shares in fully consolidated companies. Overall, our available liquidity at the end of June 2024 remained at a solid level of EUR 90.3 million. With this, I hand over to Angela.
Thank you, Annette. Ladies and gentlemen, all in all, HHLA's performance in the first half of 2024 was largely in line with our expectations. However, the economic development in our key markets has been varied in the current financial year. The moderate increase in handling volumes we saw in the first quarter of 2024 weakened in the second quarter of the current year. Against this backdrop, we have partially adjusted our forecast, published in March 2024. For container throughput, we have lowered our growth forecast from significant to moderate, whereas for container transport, we now expect a significant increase instead of a moderate increase due to the positive impact of the Roland Spedition acquisition in the second quarter. With regard to revenue, we have also raised our expectations from moderate to significant.
This is partly due to the aforementioned acquisitions and partly to a higher level of revenue due to temporarily longer container dwell times at the Hamburger terminal. Our EBIT expectation for the 2024 financial year remains unchanged in the range of EUR 70 million-EUR 100 million. But within this range, we have made a slight adjustment to the container segment. We now assume a strong increase due to the higher expected earnings, the effects from the remeasurement of the useful economic life of certain assets, and a partial reversal of the restructuring provision. In March, we were anticipating a strong decrease for the intermodal segment, we are sticking to our forecast of a strong increase. Capital expenditure in the Port Logistics subgroup will be in the range of EUR 360 million-EUR 410 million.
At the challenging underlying conditions I mentioned before, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the crisis in the Middle East, as well as the current economic weakness and market changes, have also led to an adjustment of our medium-term ambition for 2025, which we presented in 2024, so four years ago. We originally targeted EBIT of approximately EUR 400 million for the 2025 financial year, and earmarked total investments of EUR 1.6 billion in the period from 2021 to 2025 in order to achieve this. We continue to target an earnings potential of EUR 400 million in the medium term. However, in view of discrepancy between the planned and actual, actual external conditions, as well as delays to planned asset additions, we now expect this EBIT potential will not be achieved before the year 2027.
This depends on the stabilization of political as well as economic environment. Annette and I will be happy to take your questions now.
We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star one on their telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered the queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Questioners on the phone are requested to disable the loudspeaker mode and eventually turn off the volume from the webcast while asking the question. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. Once again, for questions, please press star and one. Ladies, there are no questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your interest in HHLA. Finally, let me assure you once again that our executive board firmly believes in the opportunities that lie ahead for HHLA. We will therefore continue to work hard to make HHLA one of Europe's leading providers of sustainable, digitalized, and network logistic solutions. Please stay healthy and take care. Goodbye.