Germany reviews Chinese group’s acquisition of port stake
Cosco’s interest in Hamburg terminal may be blocked after causing split in ruling coalition
Germany is reviewing its decision to allow Chinese shipping conglomerate Cosco to buy a stake in a container terminal in Hamburg port, in a move that could reignite a damaging row within the German government over the deal.
The economy ministry said the decision would be reviewed after it emerged that the Tollerort terminal had been classified as critical infrastructure earlier this year.
The ministry said it was now being determined whether and under what conditions the Chinese shipping giant would be allowed to acquire a stake.
The Cosco transaction triggered a row in Olaf Scholz’s coalition late last year after the chancellor expressed his support for the investment over the objections of several ministries, which opposed it on security grounds.
The renewed doubts about the transaction come shortly before a hotly anticipated trip to China by Annalena Baerbock, her first official visit as German foreign minister.
They also coincide with German efforts to reassess its relationship with Beijing as concerns mount that its companies have become too reliant on the Chinese market and its supply chains too dependent on critical raw materials from China.
Cosco Shipping Ports agreed in 2021 to buy 35 per cent of Tollerort, a container terminal in Hamburg, from logistics company HHLA for €65mn.
Scholz’s government, a coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and liberals, finally decided that the deal could go through but that Cosco would be limited to acquiring a 25 per cent stake.
Some Green and liberal politicians remained unhappy with the compromise, however, arguing that Cosco’s entry into Tollerort would increase China’s influence over German transport infrastructure.
But in a statement on Wednesday, HHLA confirmed that Tollerort was classified as part of Germany’s critical infrastructure earlier this year. The decision was taken by Germany’s national cyber security agency, the BSI, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, which first reported the development.
According to Germany’s law on foreign investment, such a classification gives the economy ministry greater powers to block acquisitions by companies from non-EU states.
It was still unclear on Wednesday evening whether the Cosco transaction could go through or be blocked. The economy ministry said it had not given the deal final approval, regardless of the change in the terminal’s status.
The Green party, which has always been sceptical of Cosco’s attempts to acquire a stake in Tollerort, welcomed the latest development.
“The government should see this new assessment as an opportunity to once again subject Cosco’s participation in the port of Hamburg to closer scrutiny,” Katharina Dröge, head of the Greens’ parliamentary group, told the DPA news agency.
Dröge said critical infrastructure must be protected. “Particularly in this area, we mustn’t allow ourselves to become dependent on authoritarian states that can blackmail us,” she went on. “That endangers our security and sovereignty and ultimately damages the German economy.”