Cosco and Zippel: Federal government stops Chinese takeover of logistics company Zippel

The federal government has banned a takeover of the Hamburg logistics company Zippel by the Chinese state shipping company Cosco due to security concerns. This was announced by a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Economics. The federal cabinet voted to prevent the sale of 80 percent of Zippel's shares to Cosco.

The reason given was that the acquisition would have deepened dependencies and endangered the resilience of supply chains in Germany and the EU. As Europe's largest economy, Germany welcomes foreign investments. At the same time, there could be investments that endanger the country's security. The federal government examines an average of around 300 employment cases every year. So far, a purchase ban has been issued in a total of eight cases, the spokesman said.

Zippel operates at the Port of Hamburg and specializes in transporting container freight, primarily from the North Sea ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven, to the east of Germany by truck and rail. In February, the Federal Cartel Office announced that the major shipping company Cosco would be allowed to take over 80 percent of Zippel's shares from a competition perspective. At the end of April, however, it became known that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution had concerns about the takeover. Cosco is one of the largest shipping companies in the world in terms of transport volume.