2023-09-14 19:17:09
Handling of container ships in the port of Hamburg. Image: dpa
The MSC Group’s planned entry into the Hamburg Port Authority is alarming competitors and unions. The Italian-influenced shipping company based in Geneva, on the other hand, is selling the expansion as a bulwark against the Chinese.
The shock waves that the planned pact between Hamburg and the shipping company MSC is causing in northern Germany were shown in Bremen on Thursday. There, in the congress center behind the main train station, the National Maritime Conference is meeting this week. It’s supposed to be about offshore wind farms, shipyards and maritime security – but one topic dominates the bar tables in the foyer: the planned partial sale of the municipal Hamburg port group HHLA to MSC. Bremen’s Economics Senator Kristina Vogt (Left) calls the step to the FAZ in the congress center a “very difficult signal”. People were surprised by the announcement. It is not yet possible to foresee whether and, if so, what consequences this would have for the ports of Bremen.
The Bremen port authority Eurogate, which also operates a terminal in Hamburg, is more specific to its employees. In the medium and long term, the new partnership between HHLA and MSC “could lead to significant cargo losses for the Eurogate Group,” according to an internal letter to employees. The problem: MSC has so far been closely linked to Eurogate both in Hamburg and at the Bremen terminals. If the shipping company, headquartered in Geneva, invests heavily in its rival HHLA, many Eurogate managers believe that ships will also move there.
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