Singaporean port operator PSA has approached the European Commission with objections over MSC’s entry into Hamburg container handler HHLA, according to German media. PSA is said to be concerned about the legality of the deal.
The world’s largest container shipping company MSC has signed an agreement with Hamburg city council tobuy 49.9% of the shares in Hamburg terminal and port operator HHLA .
However, PSA International, one of the world’s largest port operators, has objected to the European Commission’s sale of almost half of HHLA to MSC, according to public broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The European Commission, as the European competition authority, must approve the sale of the shares to MSC and, according to media reports, PSA has raised doubts about the legality of the deal.
The European Commission has reportedly already received two complaints about the deal. One complaint came from a shareholder in HHLA, which is currently listed, but is expected to be privatised when the deal with MSC is complete. Another complaint came from conservative CDU politician Götz Wiese, who is spokesman on the port for his party in Hamburg city council.
The deal between the Social Democrat-led city council and MSC caused political turmoil in Elbehaven when it was announced in 2023. The city council was criticised for ignoring local buyers such as Germany’s largest shipping company Hapag-Lloyd, which had also expressed interest in a stake in HHLA. Hapag-Lloyd was interested in HHLA but would not settle for a minority stake. Klaus-Michael Kühne, major shareholder of Hapag-Lloyd, called MSC’s bid for HHLA “an affront to the Hamburg ‘home carrier'”.
MSC, owned by the Italian Aponte family and based in Switzerland, has pledged to transport an additional 1 million teu a year through the HHLA terminals in Hamburg. Not only is there an agreement between Hamburg and MSC to implement a €775 million investment programme over the period from 2025 to 2028, but there are also commitments about HHLA’s management having the final say on exactly what is invested where.
According to German media, a possible formal complaint from PSA could delay EU approval of MSC’s purchase of shares in HHLA.
HHLA has previously caused political controversy in Germany when the port authority struck a deal with China’s COSCO Shipping Ports in 2021 to let MSC buy 35% of Hamburg’s HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT). By selling its stake in CCT to COSCO, the Hamburg cargo handler wanted to anchor Chinese traffic in the Elbe port. Two political parties in Germany’s ruling coalition revolted over concerns about allowing a Chinese company to buy important German infrastructure. The result of the dispute was a compromise that allowed COSCO to buy 24.9% of the shares in the container terminal.
Although MSC’s bid for 49.9% of HHLA in the Elbehaven has provoked sour reactions, the bid is not a bad thing for the German container port, which has been in the corner where blows have been falling for some time. The port of Hamburg and HHLA have had a difficult few years, not least because of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, which reduced cargo volumes. HHLA also has a container terminal in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, which has been hit hard by the war.
