The controversial Chinese state shipping company Cosco has plans to take over a Hamburg shipping company. The cartel office has no concerns, the federal government has plenty. Because the medium-sized company travels on strategically important routes.
After the great excitement surrounding Cosco's entry into a terminal in the Port of Hamburg, the federal government is putting a stop to the Chinese state-owned shipping company from making another takeover attempt. This time China is targeting the Zippel shipping company. Although this is not large, it is on crucial routes. The federal government therefore sees “significant safety concerns” and wants to stop the sale, as the “Handelsblatt” reports, citing an internal document.
There is a risk of strategic dependencies, which "could be used as a means of pressure in the wake of political upheavals," it says under the note "classified information - for official use only." Cosco wants to acquire an 80 percent stake in Zippel; the Federal Cartel Office had already given the green light. Zippel managing director Axel Plaß said in the summer that "Zippel, with around one and a half percent market share, is not worth the public excitement."
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, on the other hand, is worried about the Chinese state-owned company's "cumulative acquisition plans" in Germany and the rest of the EU, as security circles reported in the spring. In the Zippel case, not only domestic German logistics would be affected, but also Germany's defense capability, the newspaper explains.
The Hamburg forwarding company Konrad Zippel, founded in 1876 and employing around 250 people, specializes in container transport by truck and train between the ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven and eastern Germany. According to the report, the medium-sized company has a turnover of around 80 million euros. Overall, Zippel does not have a high market share, but at the terminals in Berlin, Schkopau near Halle and Elsterwerda it has a share of between 35 and 90 percent of throughput, as stated in the secret government document.
Zippel also plays an important role in logistical support for the Bundeswehr, according to the Defense Ministry, according to “Handelsblatt”. In the event of a conflict, the logistics to the German eastern border are relevant for NATO.
“Elements of the European transport infrastructure influenced by China would not be available, or at least not fully available, in the event of a conflict or crisis,” the newspaper quotes the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as saying. A conceivable conflict with China would also be an attack by the People's Republic on Taiwan. The more Chinese control over the German logistics network, the more blackmail Germany would be in such a case.
Cosco is one of the largest shipping companies in the world and has had a minority stake in the operating company of the Tollerort container terminal in the port of Hamburg since 2023. Even before this participation, there were warnings about China's growing strategic influence on German infrastructure. Cosco originally wanted a 35 percent stake in the terminal, but 24.99 percent was ultimately approved.
