Federal government allows Cosco from China to participate in Hamburg terminal

Chinese shipping company Cosco loading

The world’s fourth largest container shipping company is allowed to participate in the port of Hamburg.

(Photo: Bloomberg)

Dusseldorf The Chinese container shipping company Cosco is allowed to hold a 24.9 percent stake in the Hamburger Containerterminal Tollerort (CTT). This was announced by Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), which is responsible for operations, on Wednesday evening. One welcomes the decision of the federal government, it said there.

All questions were clarified as part of the investment review process “in intensive, constructive discussions”. Originally, the Chinese company wanted to acquire 35 percent of the smallest of the four Hamburg port terminals, but the project raised concerns from several federal ministries.

The compromise proposal, according to which Cosco should only acquire a stake of 24.9 percent in order to prevent the company from China from being blocked in the shareholders’ meeting, also led to criticism, especially in the Federal Ministry of Economics. The reason: A few months ago, the terminal was classified as “critical infrastructure”, which threatened to prevent Cosco from entering the business altogether.

The decision now makes it possible to develop the CTT into a preferred transshipment point for long-standing HHLA customer Cosco, the state-run HHLA said on Wednesday. Cargo flows between Asia and Europe would now be concentrated there.

China is currently by far the largest trading partner of Germany and the Port of Hamburg: Around 30 percent of the goods that are handled in the Elbhafen come from China or go to China. HHLA and Cosco’s infrastructure subsidiary CSPL now want to finalize the transaction as soon as possible.

More: Habeck lets Cosco fidget with the planned port entry in Hamburg

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