Despite strong resistance from coalition partners and opposition parties, under pressure from Chancellor Olaf Scholz, it was decided to sell a 24.9 percent share of a Hamburg port terminal to the Chinese state company Cosco.
Cosco, the largest shipping company in China, initially wanted to buy a 35 percent share in the terminal ‘Tollerort’ in the port of Hamburg. Protests against this sounded unusually loud and polyphonic from both the coalition parties Greens and FDP, as well as from the opposition party CDU/CSU. The compromise was adopted on Wednesday morning in the cabinet meeting.
The agreement between Cosco and the Hamburg Port Authority HHLA was concluded in September 2021; the Ministry of Economy had to approve the investment. The ministry, led by minister Robert Habeck (Greens), did not want to let the deal pass. Five other ministries also spoke out against the deal. Chancellor Scholz (SPD), mayor of Hamburg between 2011 and 2018, insisted on going ahead with the sale.
Rotterdam and Antwerp
The smaller share that has now been decided ensures that Cosco will not have a veto right and cannot appoint directors. This would limit the influence of the Chinese shipping company in Hamburg. Critics warn that China could collect data on flows of goods and stocks of raw materials through shares in many European port terminals – including those in Rotterdam and Antwerp.
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The smaller share that is now being offered to Cosco – Cosco still has to agree – does not take away that criticism. Weekly magazine of the mirror wrote: When asked in a few years’ time how it was possible for Germany to surrender to China like this, the answer is clear: “Only the chancellor has made that decision.”