Letter of intent in prospect: Ports may move together soon

Thursday 11 November 2021

letter of intent in prospect
Ports may move closer together soon

To be able to keep up with their rivals Rotterdam and Antwerp, the eight German container ports have virtually no choice but to merge. So far, it has been difficult to move the conversation forward – that could change by the end of the year.

Negotiations about closer cooperation between North German ports are clearly progressing. Hamburg port logistics group HHLA expressed confidence that an agreement on a merger with Bremen rival Eurogate could be reached by the end of the year.

“We are working on a letter of intent,” said HHLA boss Angela Titzrath. With the good will of everyone involved, he believes it will be possible to sign it in the next few weeks. Talks are about the merger of eight container terminals in Hamburg, Bremen and Wilhelmshaven. The concerned port authorities remained unaffected by the project. Initially, no comment was received from Eurogate.

If an agreement is reached, a company evaluation (due diligence) must follow. This can lead to a common society or cooperation. When asked about the potential involvement of the logistics company and major Hapag-Lloyd shareholder Klaus-Michael Kuhne, Titzrath said: “Three parties are already complicated. A quarter doesn’t reduce complexity, it can increase it.” ”

According to media reports, the billionaire wants to promote the merger of ports in Rotterdam and Antwerp against his competitors and is also looking to invest financially through his Kuhn holding. The HHLA boss insisted she was not familiar with the offer. Kuhne owns more than 30 percent of Germany’s largest container shipping company, in which Hamburg also holds a stake. Hapag-Lloyd recently announced that it would take a 30 percent stake in the deepwater port in Wilhelmshaven (Z-Weser-Port), in which Eurogate owns the majority.

The finale is yet to come. Last year, HHLA and the owners of Eurogate, Eurokey and BLG Logistics announced open-ended talks on closer cooperation in the German container business. Since then, negotiations have made hard progress. Eurokai and BLG each hold a 50 percent stake in container terminal operator Eurogate.