The world’s largest shipping company MSC is on the verge of acquiring a stake in Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), after the Hamburg Parliament approved the controversial deal. In a roll-call vote, 72 out of 105 members voted in favor of MSC taking over 49.9 percent of the city's shares in HHLA. Now, the fate of the transaction rests in the hands of the EU Commission, which still needs to approve the deal.

The sale was highly controversial, but the red-green coalition pushed it through with their two-thirds majority. The decision was made in the second reading, after the opposition had initially prevented the decision before the summer break. If the EU Commission gives the green light, the city of Hamburg will retain a majority of 50.1 percent, while MSC will take over nearly half of the shares.

The goal of the transaction is to stabilize the struggling HHLA. HHLA operates three important container terminals in the Port of Hamburg, which together handle around 77 percent of the city's container throughput. However, the company is in a difficult economic situation: In 2022, profit amounted to only 20 million euros on a turnover of 1.45 billion euros. Container throughput fell by 7.5 percent and container transport by 5.4 percent. In the first quarter of 2024, HHLA even briefly slipped into the red.

The deal with MSC comes at a critical time, as other major shipping companies, like Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, are increasingly favoring other German ports through new cooperations. Hapag-Lloyd has already announced plans to reduce its cargo volume at the Port of Hamburg by ten percent. In contrast, MSC wants to nearly double its throughput in Hamburg to one million standard containers by 2031.

In addition to its involvement in container handling, MSC plans to build a new Germany headquarters in Hamburg. This will more than double the number of employees in the Hanseatic city by adding 700 jobs, with MSC Cruises also moving into the new headquarters.