Among the few leading containerized shipping companies World Cup that has not so far included in its strategy of development of its own more decisive participation in the activities of container handling on port docks, so much so that in Italy, for example, not long ago the company disappointed the expectations of those who thought it could relaunch the container terminal of the port of Cagliari with its direct intervention, more recently the German Hapag-Lloyd seems to have also undertaken a phase of vertical integration of activities by entering with greater determination in the port terminalism market.

The "Strategy 2023" of the German company cites, ad To tell the truth rather vaguely, the intent to pursue Partnership in the terminal field, but in recent times Hapag-Lloyd seems to have taken more resolute action to expand its presence in this market. A more determined entry into the port world that seems to have started at the beginning of 2021 when operations started at the new container terminal in port area II of the Moroccan port of Tanger Med operated by the Tanger Alliance, the company 10% owned by Hapag-Lloyd, 40% by the German Eurogate and from the Italian sister Contship Italia and 50% from the Moroccan Marsa Maroc ( of 29 December 2020). Only a year later Hapag-Lloyd led to completion of the acquisition of 30% of JadeWeserPort, the container terminal of the German port of Wilhelmshaven, taking over the share in priority in the hands of APM Terminals and thus supporting the other Eurogate member ( of 29 April 2022). A subsequent initiative was the for the acquisition of 49% of the capital of the Italian Spinelli, logistics group that also operates terminals in the ports of Genoa and Salerno ( of 15 September 2022). Then Hapag-Lloyd signed another relevant agreement to buy port activities and logistics of Chilean SAAM ( of 4 October 2022).

In the meantime, Hapag-Lloyd also signed, last spring, An agreement to build and operate a container terminal in the port Egyptian Damietta always in partnership with Eurogate and Contship Italy ( of 10 May 2022). Today the German company has announced the intention to make the new Egyptian port hub its own transhipment centre for the Eastern Mediterranean region. According to forecasts, the new terminal, which will have full regime an annual traffic capacity of 3.3 million TEU, will start operating in the second half of 2024 to increase activity during 2025. The landing Egyptian will be managed by Damietta Alliance Container Terminal S.A.E., a joint venture 39% owned by Hapag-Lloyd Damietta, 29.5% from Eurogate Damietta, 29.5% from Contship Damietta and the Egyptian Middle East Logistics & Consultants Group and Ship & C.R.E.W. Egypt S.A.E. both with 1% of capital.

Today Hapag-Lloyd recalled that currently its Container transhipment operations from mother ships to ships feeders in the Eastern Mediterranean region are distributed between several ports and, in particular, between the Greek port of Piraeus and the current container terminal (CT1) of the same port of Damietta. The German company has announced that, with the entry into operation of the new container terminal (CT2) of the Damietta Alliance Container Terminal, container transhipment activities for the Eastern Mediterranean will be focused on Damietta. "All ships sailing between Europe and Asia and to important destinations in the Middle East and subcontinent Indian - highlighted Matthias Müller, senior director Business Administration Region South Europe of Hapag-Lloyd - pass almost automatically for Damietta without having to deviate from their route. Another advantage - he specified - is represented from the depth of the seabed which is -18 meters compared to the current -14 meters of Terminal 1, which means that The new terminal will be able to handle ships of all dimensions, including dual-fuel ships from over 23.500 teu that Hapag-Lloyd ordered."