"Chinese port participation in Hamburg strengthens the economy"

The chairman of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, Jörg Wuttke, sees the decision on the Chinese port participation in Hamburg as strengthening for the German economy. "Products will now be processed more efficiently and in favor of our economy via Hamburg and not via another port," Wuttke told the Table.Media portal. Wuttke said of the sometimes fierce criticism of the entry of the Chinese group Cosco into a container terminal in the port of Hamburg: "Ghosts were painted on the wall."

Last week, the federal cabinet decided on a so-called partial ban on the originally planned participation. According to this, the Chinese group Cosco can only acquire a share of less than 25 percent in the container terminal - instead of the planned 35 percent. In a protocol statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other departments had expressed serious concerns about the cabinet's decision on Chinese entry into the port terminal.

Wuttke said of the forthcoming inaugural visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to China: "It makes perfect sense and is extremely important. Many things can be discussed much better in private than in a large group.” The EU Chamber of Commerce in China represents the interests of European companies doing business in China.

On the other hand, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) criticized the decision in favor of Chinese participation at the weekend. Although it has been achieved that Cosco, with a stake of less than 25 percent, can no longer block things and cannot view all of the operating company's business documents, she said on Sunday in the ARD program "Report from Berlin". However, the Green politician reiterated: "As is well known, I would have found it right if they were not involved at all."

As justification, she referred to experiences according to which China's participation in important parts of the infrastructure led to dependencies from which one cannot get out so quickly. However, the federal government had not classified the Tollerort terminal in Hamburg as critical infrastructure. “China prohibits foreign companies from investing in their infrastructure, prohibits companies from being active in China (...). And then we allow all of that in our country?” said Baerbock. "That too is an absolute distortion of competition."

The managing director of the Hamburg container terminal in Tollerort, which has become known nationwide because of the planned Chinese participation, is now leaving the company. A spokesman for the port logistics company HHLA said his departure at the end of October had absolutely nothing to do with the planned entry of the Chinese Cosco group. Rather, this was decided a long time ago by mutual agreement.

The managing director "expressed the desire to take on a new professional position outside of HHLA," said a spokeswoman for Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) to the NDR and WDR, which had previously reported on it. According to HHLA, the 57-year-old has been with the company for many years and has been managing director of the container terminal in Tollerort since 2019. It was said that he was “very grateful” for what he had achieved in various positions at HHLA.