The deadline for the parties to They should have terminated the agreement for the acquisition by of the Chinese terminalista company COSCO Shipping Ports of a Share in the capital of Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT), company of the German terminalista group Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) which operates the container terminal of the same name of the port of Hamburg. The agreement provided that the company Chinese, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Grand Dragon, acquired 35% of the capital of CTT, but the controversy aroused in Germany by the entry of a Chinese company into the Capital of a German port company, question arising mainly after the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine had brought to the fore the problem of Germany's participation in economic activities Russian, had induced the Berlin government to impose the ban to the transaction unless COSCO Shipping Ports settles for acquire less than 25% of CTT's share capital ( of 21 September 2021and 26 October 2022).

The parties should have decided by December 31 whether or not to follow up on the agreement. The date has passed in silence until Friday when, with a statement to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, COSCO Shipping Ports has announced that the parties are still evaluating and discussing with the German Ministry of Economy and Energy the terms of the agreement.

A communication that led immediately after HHLA to issue a note stating that HHLA and COSCO Shipping Ports would be close to finalizing the agreement for the investment in the CTT: "we can confirm - said a spokesman of the German company - which in objective and constructive talks between HHLA, COSCO Shipping Ports and the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and of Climate Action it was possible to agree precise conditions for the participation of COSCO Shipping Ports in Container Terminal Tollerort'. The spokesman specified that "HHLA and COSCO Shipping Ports are currently in negotiations. to define the final details and aim to finalize the transaction Soon."

Moreover, if COSCO Shipping Ports has never made explicit the own opinion with regard to the constraints imposed by the German Ministry for Get the green light for the transaction, Friday the company German port has specified that since last October, when the dicastery had formalized its position, HHLA and COSCO Shipping Ports had agreed, under certain conditions, to discuss with the German Government a participation less than 25% of the Chinese company in the capital of Container Terminal Tollerort as the term of an agreement that the two Parties have decided not to disclose.