As often happens in these cases, someone has already asks if the document referred to "dpa" (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) came into possession was made have to the German news agency with different reasons than to make known to the public the difficult situation where the company assumes you might find yourself in the future. These include Reasons - still no one seems to have suggested it, but it certainly does not lack a lot - someone's will, perhaps within the same company, to highlight to the institutions the prospects to which It could be met if the authorities block the acquisition of a share of the company's assets German by a Chinese company.

The Chinese company in question is COSCO Shipping Ports, the terminal division of the shipowning group COSCO Shipping Holdings Co., while the German one is the Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), a company that operates three containers terminal in the port of Hamburg as well as terminal in the ports Tallinn and Odessa foreign affairs and other logistics activities. The German company is also present in Italy, in the port of Trieste, through the company HHLA PLT Italy (formerly Platform Logistica Trieste) of which it owns 50.01% of the capital.

The disposal in question consists of a share of minority (35.0% of the capital) in Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT), the wholly-owned subsidiary of HHLA which manages the port terminal of the same name in Hamburg, the most small of the three operated by HHLA in the city's airport Hanseatic, terminal that the Chinese company would intend use as a northern European preferential hub for ships of the Chinese shipowning group ( of 4 June and 21 September 2021).

After formalization of the preliminary agreement for entry of COSCO Shipping Ports in the capital of CTT, Germany have multiply the voices opposed to this operation, aroused mainly from the effects of the war between Russia and Ukraine on activities and interests of German companies and institutions They have in common with Russian partners. Criticism, and then the decision of the German Federal Government to impose a ban on the acquisition of a share of CTT equal to at least 25% of the capital, which have induced the parties to postpone the deadline of the Deadline for completion of the agreement ( of 21 September and 26 October 2022).

A few days from this date, it may not be the result of the Case or a journalistic initiative that in the hands of "DPA" we have arrived a document that paints a picture that is anything but rosy on the future of HHLA, alluding very covertly to the opportunities offered by the participation of the COSCO group to the activities of the Hamburg company.

The German news agency explained that the document, which It would be a 49-page presentation of the company's management of last November 24, would specify that the increase in costs would be jeopardising the very existence of the terminals of HHLA in Hamburg, with direct competitors in the port of Rotterdam and of Antwerp, but also in the Polish port of Gdansk, which record an increase in volumes handled, while in Hamburg stagnated and The market share of the German port decreases.

According to "dpa", in the document the president of HHLA, Angela Titzath, would specify that the company would plan to cut 1.25 million working hours from the beginning of 2023 to the end of 2025, a reduction that could impact hundreds of HHLA's approximately 6,000 employees. The presentation would specify that costs should be reduced by €128 million by the end of 2025, decrease in Costs that could be achieved through the action automation or with an increase of +20-25% in productivity.

"DPA" also announced that the document would highlight that the market is dominated by a few big owners and that COSCO is the fourth largest company of navigation of the sector. This reference to the power of which the Chinese group has to address large volumes of traffic containerized to one port rather than another could be evaluated by some as a message, far from being subliminal, of the foolishness of rejecting the proposal for a partnership advanced by the COSCO group.