Growing freight volumes and low vacancy rates on the rental properties in Port of Aalborg’s business park are the primary reasons for an increase in revenue and profit compared to the latest half-year results.
Denmark’s largest inland port, Port of Aalborg, has gained a solid footing in 2022. Activity levels have been high, resulting in a first half-year revenue growth of almost three per cent to DKK 120.2 million. The financial period result is a profit of DKK 43.6 million before tax.
– We have had a decent activity level in the first six months of the financial year. Freight volumes are above par compared to 2021. At the same time, there is still great interest in our growing number of rental properties, including office, warehouse, and production leases. This interest indicates that things are going well in the North Jutland business community and that we’re successfully creating solid frameworks and growth conditions for companies in the region, says Chairman of the Board of Port of Aalborg, Lasse Frimand Jensen.
Extraordinary on-off earnings have positively affected the accounting period results. Additionally, Port of Aalborg has experienced the consequences of the war in Ukraine, which, amongst other things, has led to changes in the coal and oil markets.
– The impact on our activities has been slightly different. Coal freight volumes have increased in the first half of the year but rising oil prices have negatively impacted the oil storage market, thus affecting our business. Fortunately, our business is broad-based, and we have strong clusters of companies that work with future growth potentials, including the wind industry and Power-to-X. Therefore, we are quite robust, which is a great strength considering the uncertainty of the current world market, says CEO of Port of Aalborg, Kristian Thulesen Dahl.
According to Kristian Thulesen Dahl, Port of Aalborg still expects a positive ordinary profit before tax of DKK 45-55 million. However, he has reservations about developments in the global economy, currently characterised by interest rate increases and inflation.
New opportunities for businesses
Port of Aalborg’s robust business model results from, amongst other things, significant investment in the port’s business park for many years. The real estate business has grown to a whopping 185,000 square metres of office, production, and warehouse space for rent purposes. The occupancy rate is as high as 95 to 98 percent.
– We continue to expand our business park. In the first half of the year, we started constructing 16,000 square metres of warehousing and logistics facilities, expected to be complete during the second half of the year. Construction activities in our new business area “Ankeret” are also progressing according to plan. Here, a new office building of 4,600 square metres and warehouses of 10,000 square metres are expected to be commissioned during the first of 2023, says Kristian Thulesen Dahl.
The first half of 2022 also marked the end of an almost 50-year-long collaboration on the container traffic to and from Greenland. The last Greenland ship departed from Aalborg on the 22nd of June. The completion also means that Port of Aalborg now take over its own container terminal operations.
– When one door closes, another opens. The new container terminal setup will benefit companies in the entire region. Until today, the container terminal has primarily been operated on terms from the universal service obligation. Going forward, however, it will now be on North Jutland companies and their transport partners’ terms, says Kristian Thulesen Dahl, continuing:
– We are, therefore, entering dialogue with both companies and freight forwarders, with a focus on creating the right terminal setup and a new beginning for container traffic in and out of North Jutland. We are situated close to the highway, and our railways tracks is directly connected to the terminal, providing us with every opportunity to ensure optimal multimodal transportation conditions for the regional business community.
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