“According to information from NDR and WDR, all six ministries involved in the investment review have rejected the deal,” the broadcasters reported on Thursday. “According to the research, however, the Chancellery is pushing for the entry to take place.” The core of the report was confirmed by the dpa in government circles.
The background is an agreement concluded in September 2021 between the Hamburg port logistics company HHLA and the Chinese terminal operator Cosco Shipping Ports Limited (CSPL) on a 35 percent stake by the Chinese in the Hamburg HHLA terminal in Tollerort (CTT). A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics did not want to comment on the report. The Federal Ministry of Transport also did not want to comment on request. An HHLA spokesman told the dpa about the report: “No comment”.
According to the information from NDR and WDR, the leading Ministry of Economic Affairs has already registered the issue for final rejection in the Federal Cabinet because it is a matter of critical infrastructure. However, the Chancellery did not put the test procedure on the agenda, but instead instructed the departments involved to search for a compromise so that the deal could still be approved.
According to the report, there is concern that the planned participation could create a “potential for blackmail”. In addition to the economics department headed by the Green Robert Habeck, the interior ministries of defence, transport and finance, as well as the foreign office, have also taken a stance against Chinese entry, according to NDR and WDR. The resistance to the line of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who will soon travel to China, runs through all three parties of the traffic light coalition. Scholz was the first mayor of the Hanseatic city between 2011 and 2018.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai told the dpa: “The Chinese Communist Party must not have access to our country’s critical infrastructure.” He warned against being naïve towards the Chinese rulers. “The tough power interests they are pursuing are not in our interest. The fact remains: China is an important trading partner, but also a systemic rival. We should act accordingly.”
The chairman of the Greens in the Interior Committee of the Bundestag, Marcel Emmerich, described the ports as facilities that are particularly worthy of protection and said: “Our critical infrastructure must not become a plaything for the geopolitical interests of others.” Apparently the Chancellor did not learn from the past. “As Sigmar Gabriel At that time sold gas storage facilities to Russia, Olaf Scholz now wants to sell parts of the Port of Hamburg (HHLA) to China.”
Union faction vice Jens Spahn is also opposed to entry. “One lesson learned from the pandemic and the energy crisis is that we have to become more independent of China,” he told dpa. “German ports do not belong in Chinese hands. Especially since Europeans cannot participate in ports in China.” The chairman of the left in the Economic Committee of the Bundestag also demanded that critical infrastructure “do not belong in the hands of questionable international corporations, but in the best case entirely in the public domain”.
Meanwhile, Scholz’s successor as Hamburg’s head of government, Peter Tschentscher (SPD), continues to support Cosco’s participation in the CTT. “Nothing has changed on the matter,” said Senate spokesman Marcel Schweitzer, referring to the dispute in Berlin. The mayor does not share the fears that China could gain access to the critical infrastructure. He always points out that the land in the Port of Hamburg is and will remain entirely in public hands. The operation of the port as a whole is still 100 percent the responsibility of the Hamburg Port Authority.
In the past, Chinese companies had repeatedly joined German companies. However, this was also forbidden several times. The Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance allows, under certain circumstances, after an examination, to prohibit an investor from a non-EU country from investing in a German company that operates critical infrastructure, for example – in order to guarantee “public order or security” in the Federal Republic. In 2018, for example, the federal government prevented a Chinese group from entering the electricity network operator 50Hertz. The hurdles for takeover attempts in sensitive areas have been increased.
China is by far the most important trading partner in Europe’s third largest seaport. The Cosco Group, which also operates the world’s fourth largest container shipping company, has had its ships moored at the CTT for decades. Cosco already holds a number of stakes in port terminals in Europe.
CTT with four berths and 14 container gantries is one of three container terminals operated by HHLA in the Port of Hamburg. In return, Cosco wants to concentrate its cargo flows in the Hanseatic city, CTT is to become a preferred transshipment point in Europe. A Chinese entry at the port of Hamburg could therefore make economic sense, it was said behind the scenes in Berlin. That could mean that more container ships go to Hamburg. Europe’s third largest port has lost ground to its larger competitors Rotterdam and Antwerp in recent years.
According to the report, time is of the essence: “If the federal cabinet does not make a decision and no extension of the deadline is agreed, the deal would automatically come about according to the law,” write NDR and WDR. “According to the current status, that would be the case at the end of October.”
Meanwhile, HHLA shares fell by 0.18 percent to EUR 11.40 in XETRA trading.
BERLIN (dpa-AFX)
Leverage must be between 2 and 20
No data
More news about HHLA AG (Port of Hamburg and logistics)
Image sources: HHLA