CAPTION: China's COSCO signs deal to acquire stake in Hamburg container port. (picture alliance / dpa / Christian Charisius)
A controversial deal to allow the Chinese state-owned group COSCO a minority stake in a Hamburg container terminal has been finalized, German port operator HHLA said on Monday.
HHLA said it had signed the contracts with COSCO for the shareholding in the Tollerort terminal following a formal appraisal of the investment. This means that a COSCO subsidiary has a 24.99% stake.
The deal was finished after around two years of negotiations, and a heated debate in Germany over foreign influence in domestic infrastructure.
The terminal will become a preferred handling point for COSCO. HHLA said on Monday that it was convinced that the cooperation would strengthen Hamburg's position as a logistics hub in the North Sea and Baltic region.
COSCO originally wanted to take over 35% of the terminal operating company. However, several German ministries protested this, so in October the Cabinet set the quota at less than 25% to prevent COSCO from gaining a blocking minority.
China is Germany's largest trading partner. Around 30% of the goods that would be handled in the port of Hamburg come from China or go there.
The deal was considered controversial because it could expand China's strategic influence in German and European transport infrastructure as well as increase Germany's dependence on China.
Throughout the proceedings, HHLA had repeatedly stressed that the terminal's operations, all customer relations and also the IT systems would continue to be controlled centrally by the group.
COSCO would not have access to them and would not be given any decision-making rights, HHLA said. This also applies to the terminal's land, which continues to belong entirely to the city of Hamburg.
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