The discussion about the planned Hamburg port deal with the Chinese shipping company Cosco continues. Now the FDP in the Bundestag is in favor of the entry of the Chinese state-owned company being re-examined.
In an interview with NDR Info, Gyde Jensen (FDP) was critical of the planned entry of a Chinese shipping company in the port of Hamburg.
The Terminal Tollerort is critical infrastructure – that’s how the Federal Office for Information Security sees it. Research by NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung had uncovered. In an interview with NDR Info, the deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, Gyde Jensen, finds clear words: “If you ask me personally, I would say that there should be a complete ban, a total ban on participation in the port of Hamburg, because we don’t want it able to afford to continue to provide smaller and smaller pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that China wants to complete in Europe”.
FDP refers to China’s entry into other ports
According to her, the Hamburg location should not be viewed in isolation. Other EU ports in which Cosco is involved should also be taken into account: “These are the ports with the highest turnover, that is Rotterdam, Antwerp, Valencia, Piraeus. If something else were added to the map in Hamburg, we would be much more critical than many in the SPD parliamentary group”. You can hear the whole interview with NDR Info here.
The future of the Tollerort terminal has been the subject of discussions in Hamburg and in federal politics for months.
The decision rests with the federal government
This makes it clear: China’s entry into Hamburg’s port terminal in Tollerort is once again the subject of lively discussion in the federal government made up of SPD, Greens and FDP. Originally, the Chinese shipping company Cosco wanted to take over more than a third of the terminal. However, the criticism was great. Subsequently, last October, the federal cabinet decided on a so-called partial prohibition, which only permits the acquisition of shares in Cosco of less than 25 percent. Concerns about the new classification of the Tollerort terminal also came from the Critical Infrastructure Working Group, an independent group consisting of 42 experts. They also advise reassessing the deal and canceling it if in doubt. The federal government has to decide on this.
Further information
Is China involved in the Tollerort terminal in the Port of Hamburg? According to HHLA, approval from the federal government is still pending (03/23/23). more
According to the operator HHLA, there is no connection with the planned Chinese participation in the terminal in the port of Hamburg (October 31, 2022). more
