Despite serious concerns
Federal government allows China’s entry into Hamburg container terminal
05/10/2023, 7:50 p.m
The question of whether a Chinese state-owned company can enter the port of Hamburg has long been a source of contention in the federal government. Chancellor Scholz is in favour, parts of his cabinet are expressing serious concerns. Now it stays that way: Cosco may participate in a terminal.
As previously planned, the Chinese state-owned company Cosco may only acquire 24.99 percent of the shares in the Hamburg container terminal in Tollerort. This was announced by the spokesman for the federal government, Steffen Hebestreit. The terminal is now considered an operator of critical infrastructure. Cosco originally wanted to take over 35 percent of the operating company of Container Terminal Tollerort GmbH and, in return, upgrade the terminal to become the preferred transshipment point in Europe.
However, a dispute had broken out in the federal government over the question of whether Chinese participation should be permitted. Last October, the cabinet decided on a so-called partial ban, which only allows the acquisition of less than 25 percent of Cosco shares. Any further acquisition above this threshold was prohibited. Chancellor Olaf Scholz had spoken out in favor of the acquisition. However, there had been strong headwinds within the federal government. The Foreign Ministry and other departments had expressed serious concerns about the cabinet’s decision.
Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) welcomed the German government’s decision to release the Chinese company Cosco Shipping Ports Limited (CSPL) from its minority stake in Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT). The decision makes it possible to develop the CTT into a preferred transhipment point for long-standing HHLA customer Cosco, where cargo flows between Asia and Europe are concentrated. HHLA and CSPL would now “finalize the transaction promptly,” it said.
HHLA announced that China is currently the largest trading partner for Germany and the Port of Hamburg. According to HHLA, around 30 percent of the goods handled in the Port of Hamburg come from or go to China. The minority holding of CSPL secures employment and strengthens Hamburg’s national and international importance as a logistics location as well as the industrial nation of Germany.