“Better used with apartments”
Shipping giant Maersk doubts the future of the port of Hamburg
May 15, 2024, 1:53 p.m
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Hamburgers don’t like to hear this: The head of the shipping company Maersk suggests replacing the port’s container terminals with apartments. The Hanseatic city is “not the natural gateway to the world”.
For Hamburg residents, the port is part of their identity. For the head of the world’s second largest container shipping company Maersk, however, the location is becoming less important. “No, Hamburg is not the natural gateway to the world,” Vincent Clerc told “Zeit”. As a taxpayer in Hamburg, he would ask himself whether this port is worth several hundred million euros in tax money every year. Just to have the Elbe channel dredged so that it remains deep enough for large ships, the people of Hamburg would have to spend more than 100 million euros.
“That’s an enormous amount of money when you consider that 100 kilometers away there is an efficient port with sufficient draft: Bremerhaven,” says Clerc. Clerc admitted in the interview that his judgment was not completely neutral: Maersk holds shares in the port there. “It is [aber] Well, Bremerhaven is cheaper. There are modern and efficient systems there.”
According to Clerc, the Danish Maersk also handles “a lot of cargo in Hamburg”. But for her boss the question arises: “Is Hamburg the natural gateway to the world, for example to export German cars?” The people of Hamburg “could of course find that emotionally right,” he said. But if you look at this question objectively, the answer is: “No.” It is worth considering “whether all the land on the water would be better used with affordable housing than with container terminals.”
Port operator HHLA’s profits collapse
In the final spurt to the entry of the major shipping company MSC, the Hamburg port logistics group HHLA had to accept a significant decline in profits. As the company announced, operating profit fell by a good quarter to 13.7 million euros in the first quarter. The crisis in the Red Sea led to significant delays and failures at the port operator’s locations.
“Ships reached the ports late, which also affected HHLA’s container terminals and hinterland traffic,” said CEO Angela Titzrath. The company also includes the so-called intermodal business with transport by rail and road. After attacks by Houthi rebels from Yemen, shipping companies are avoiding the Red Sea and the Suez Canal – the shortest sea route from Southeast Asia to Europe. Instead, the freighters sail around the southern tip of Africa.
In difficult times for Germany’s largest port, the world’s largest shipping company MSC joins HHLA. The city of Hamburg remains the majority owner, but is selling shares in MSC. The Hamburg citizens and the EU Commission still have to approve the project.