In the statement made by the German Ministry of Economy and Energy, it was stated that the Council of Ministers approved the purchase of Tollerort's 24.9 percent stake in the terminals of the Port of Hamburg to the Chinese company Cosco.
It is noteworthy that the German cabinet approved the terminal sale by reducing Cosco's offer to buy a 35 percent stake to 24.9 percent.
The statement said that the downgrade of the proposal was "to prevent the Chinese company from having a blocking minority and being able to influence the decisions of the HHLA company, which operates the port terminal in question." According to the statement, Cosco will not participate in the strategic business of the terminal, will not have special privileges, and will instead be able to only participate in financial participation. The German government noted that this sale restriction was due to possible risks to public order and security.
On the same day, the logistics company HHLA, operating in Cosco and the Hamburg port, published the decision on their website.
HHLA Chairman of the Board Angela Titzrath stated that they welcomed the decision and expressed that she would contact Cosco for future cooperation.
Titzrath pointed out that if the sale of shares is realized, their companies will gain strength. Titzrath emphasized that they want to continue their 40-year collaboration with Cosco.
Titzrath, manager of HHLA, noted that with the participation of Chinese shares, they expect to maintain the continuity of the terminal's development process, as well as increase the terminal's loading and unloading capacity and increase its competitiveness. The German official said they were also concerned that Cosco could transfer its operations from the Port of Hamburg to the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam if the share sale failed.
According to the news in the German press, China, the world's largest export country, is Hamburg's most important trading partner, and one third of the port's container transactions come from China.
Cosco company, in a statement on the same day, stated that they have not yet received the official decision notification and that they will make a new statement after receiving the notification.
Tollerort container terminal is the smallest of Hamburg's four container terminals. Cosco planned to make Tollerort the most important transfer point in Europe and signed an agreement of intent with the Port of Hamburg management in September of last year.
Initially, the agreement did not attract the attention of the German administration. But after the outbreak of conflict between Russia and Ukraine, six ministries, including Germany's economy ministry and interior ministry, opposed Cosco's share purchase, claiming that China could act to gain geopolitical interest by taking advantage of its economic influence. However, the German Chancellery supported the German company.
Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher stated that becoming a shareholder of the Chinese company will not pose any threat to Germany's critical infrastructure facilities, because the Hamburg Port Authority will continue to control the operation of the port 35 percent. Tschentscher added that having a XNUMX percent stake would not cause Cosco to have a strategic effect, and that Cosco would only be the tenant of the terminal and the Hamburg Municipality would still run the terminal.
China Ministry of Foreign Affairs SözcüAt the press conference held yesterday, Wang Wenbin focused on the German government's decision. Emphasizing that cooperation should be based on mutual benefit, sözcüurged the interested parties to rationally look at the concrete cooperation between China and Germany and to abandon the unreasonable "advertising campaign".
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