Controversial China deal on the Elbe.
Photo: HHLA/Nele Martensen
Dusseldorf A year ago, Angela Titzrath, CEO of the Hamburg terminal operator HHLA, might have been awarded the German Logistics Prize for her idea. With the help of an inconspicuous deal, according to the plan announced in September 2021, the decades-long shipping company customer Cosco, number four on the world seas ahead of Hapag-Lloyd, was to be tied to the Port of Hamburg.
In the smallest of the three Hamburg HHLA loading points, the container terminal Tollerort (CTT), the Chinese state-owned company should receive a minority stake of 35 percent – for 65 million euros. In return, the logistics group, which is majority-owned by the Hanseatic City of Hamburg, guaranteed the Chinese preferential processing.
A year after the announcement, Titzrath’s plan is threatened with demise in the bickering of the Berlin traffic light coalition. Allegedly, not only Robert Habeck, but all six ministers involved in the examination, are warning of a danger to Germany’s critical infrastructure, a potential for blackmail by the communist government in Beijing and a risky dependence of the port of Hamburg on China. Only Chancellor Olaf Scholz was well disposed to the entry, but as the former first mayor of the Hanseatic city he was biased.
However, in the opinion of some industry representatives, most of the cross shots from Berlin are so lacking in verifiable facts that the 56-year-old HHLA boss even has rivals jumping to his side. “Cosco’s minority stake in the container terminal in Tollerort does not pose any risks for Germany’s critical infrastructure,” Frank Dreeke, CEO of HHLA’s Bremen-based competitor BLG, told Handelsblatt. “The discussion is based solely on ideology.”
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Titzrath himself sees it no differently. “HHLA has not been given any factual reasons in the proceedings, which have been going on for more than a year, which would speak against approving the investment,” she defended her plan. In addition, the Chinese partner is by no means acquiring a stake in the Port of Hamburg, she clarifies.
Port Spokesman: “Sheer nonsense”
Politicians like Green Party leader Omid Nouripour are not deterred from his criticism. The terminal affects the entire Asian business of the Port of Hamburg, he claimed on Deutschlandfunk. The possible participation in the terminal means that one has information and insight into all documents. When asked, the Greens-led Federal Ministry of Economics also expressed concern that the Chinese would have access to the customs documents of HHLA customers.
A port spokesman called this “blatant nonsense” when asked. “We don’t even know what’s in the containers.”
The concern expressed by Robert Habeck’s ministry about a technology transfer to China, which they now want to prevent if possible with an additional public-law contract, seems questionable. HHLA has been getting its container cranes from China of all places for years, something the Federal Ministry of Economics has apparently escaped notice.
Titzrath, who moved from the board of Deutsche Post to the Elbe at the beginning of 2017, promised a liberation from the deal. For years, the Elbe port has been losing market share to its overpowering competitors Rotterdam, Antwerp and Zeebrugge, where Cosco has long since acquired shares in terminals. There is also a danger from the Adriatic ports of Trieste and Koper, which are increasingly taking over the overseas supply of Europe. Even Danzig is arming itself powerfully.
The model for the Cosco deal is a minority interest held by the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd in Hamburg’s HHLA container terminal Altenwerder (CTA), which successfully tied the shipping operator to the Elbe port years ago. Incidentally, the major shareholders in the largest German container shipping company are the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia and Qatar – without there having been similar protests by Berlin ministries in the past. “If we were to do business alone with good friends,” said HHLA sales manager Thomas Lütje, “we would soon only be handling two services from Canada.”
More: Tougher stance against China: German and US authorities stop the sale of container manufacturers.