The German government has agreed to allow Chinese shipping conglomerate Cosco to take a stake in the country’s biggest seaport, in a decision that has divided lawmakers and drawn criticism from Brussels.
Cosco Shipping Ports will be permitted to acquire up to 25 per cent of the Tollerort container facility — one of several terminals that comprise the port of Hamburg — the federal government announced on Wednesday.
The deal is a compromise, agreed at the insistence of German chancellor Olaf Scholz, after opposition on national security grounds from his economy, foreign, defence and interior ministries. Cosco originally planned to acquire 35 per cent of the terminal, for €65mn, from logistics company HHLA, in a bid announced last year.