Mediterranean Shipping Co’s buy-in to the port of Hamburg is proceeding as planned. After the voluntary public takeover offer to the shareholders of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft (HHLA) was completed MSC and the city of Hamburg now control 92.3% of the HHLA’s share capital.
Closing of the transaction whereby MSC will hold a 49.9% stake in HHLA, the city’s top port operator, is currently expected to take place in the second quarter of 2024.
MSC has outlined plans to add an annual extra 1m teu to Hamburg in the coming eight years. A new German headquarters is to be built in Hafencity, and the cruise division, MSC Cruises, is also to have a new home port here with the number of employees in the city doubling to around 700.
“The transaction could mark a turning point for the Port of Hamburg, where volumes had stagnated for more than a decade and where federal support for the maritime and industrial sector has been lukewarm at best in recent years,” analysts at Alphaliner stated earlier this year.
