Mediterranean Shipping Co’s hopes to complete its buy-in to Hamburg port by the end of June now face a hurdle with local politicians belonging to the Left Party working at the city’s budget committee deciding this week to postpone any final decision until after a public hearing now scheduled for next Thursday, which is likely too close to the moment where the local parliament then takes its summer break.
Local dockworkers have been campaigning to bar the entry of MSC into the port, while many of the city’s top tycoons hit out at the news when it broke last year.
Closing of the transaction whereby MSC will hold a 49.9% stake in Hamburger Hafen und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft (HHLA), the city’s top port operator, is now anticipated in Q3.
MSC has outlined plans to add an annual extra 1m teu to Hamburg in the coming seven 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.
