Where the coal used to be stored in the port, the new "Duisburg Gateway Terminal" will soon be built, where 20 trains, 400 trucks and six ships will unload and reload containers every day.

It should start as early as mid-2023, and construction for the project, which costs around 100 million euros, began in March.

In addition to the port company Duisport, the Chinese state shipping company Cosco should also hold a 30 percent share in what will then be the eleventh container terminal in Europe's largest inland port.

The relationship between the port and the country has been close since Duisburg became the terminus of the New Silk Road rail link in 2014.

Around 30 trains a week run between Duisburg and China.

Jonas Jansen

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

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Susanne Preuss

Business correspondent in Hamburg.

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The port is still sticking to the construction plans, but in view of the debate about China's participation in the port of Hamburg, nervousness is also growing in Duisburg.

Although the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) described the cooperation as "good and reliable", local politicians from the FDP and Greens are already warning against too close ties to China.

On Monday, the city of Duisburg replied to an FAZ query about dealing with China that the guidelines of German foreign policy were used as a guide, but that such talks “must be held at federal and European level”.

Duisburg avoids economic dependencies on individual countries.

"Of course we will monitor further developments and, depending on the situation and based on the federal guidelines, decide on how to proceed," the city said.

"Participations of shipping companies in terminals are common"

The fact is: The ties are close, a former Duisport manager is the city's China representative, and the administration has even created a "Department for China Affairs".

The city of Duisburg holds a third of the port company, the rest is held by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

What the city doesn't say, however, is that the situation is no longer comparable with Hamburg, even if it is being debated politically.

As can be seen from the entries in the company register, the Port of Duisburg has held 60 percent of the shares in the company for the expansion of the “Duisburg Gateway Terminal” since the end of June. Cosco no longer appears there.

Nevertheless, the port points out that it has had a business partnership with Cosco Shipping for "many years, which is an important customer for the container terminals operating in the Port of Duisburg".

In Hamburg, the cooperation with Cosco has existed for 50 years.

The Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT), with 1.2 kilometers of quay wall the smallest of four terminals in the Port of Hamburg, is almost completely occupied by the Chinese.

A fifth could be added to the current four berths for large container ships if Cosco becomes involved.

Hamburg would become the "preferred hub", it was said last autumn when Cosco's entry into the terminal company was agreed.

In other European ports, Cosco has long since secured stakes in terminals.

And with good reason: "All shipping companies have found that in certain situations it is necessary to be able to access port capacities," said Claus Brandt, Managing Director of the German Maritime Center (DMZ).

“If you are in front of a terminal with 10 or 15 ships and you are not being handled, it simply costs a lot of money.

If you have a stake in the terminal in any way, you will be given preferential treatment.

That's a big driver," said Brandt.

Hapag-Lloyd on a shopping spree

"It is common for shipping companies to have stakes in terminals," affirmed Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd AG: "In this respect, we see Cosco as a minority stake in a terminal in Hamburg rather uncritically." However, he dislikes the one-sided nature of the relationship.

"It would be nice if foreign shipping companies could also invest in Chinese terminals." The liner shipping company itself has had a 25.1 percent stake in the Altenwerder container terminal in Hamburg since 2002 and almost four years ago acquired a 10 percent stake in Tangier (Morocco ) Bought.

Interest in terminal investments has skyrocketed since shipping companies have been able to multiply freight rates in the wake of supply chain bottlenecks, thereby reaping profits of previously unimaginable magnitude.

Hapag-Lloyd achieved a return on sales of 40 percent (after taxes) in 2021 and reported liquid assets of EUR 7.7 billion at the turn of the year.

Last autumn, the shopping spree began practically on the doorstep in Wilhelmshaven.

Hapag-Lloyd has a 30 percent stake in the Jade-Weser-Port container terminal and even 50 percent in the rail terminal.

This year it's going on like a conveyor belt.

Hapag-Lloyd is investing one billion euros in terminal investments in South and Central America and Florida.

In Italy, the Hamburg-based company now owns a majority stake in a logistics company with a terminal in Genoa, and in Damietta, Egypt, a new terminal with a capacity of 3.3 million TEU is being built with the significant participation of Hapag-Lloyd – around three times as much as that of Cosco uses the Tollerort terminal.