Shipping: Federal government prohibits sale of logistics company to Chinese

The federal government is prohibiting the sale of 80 percent of the shares in the Hamburg logistics company Zippel to the Chinese state shipping company Cosco due to security concerns. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Economics said this after a cabinet meeting.

The ministry will then issue the prohibition notice. “The reason for the ban is safety concerns. 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 can be investments that endanger the country’s security.”

The federal government can therefore examine the acquisition of a German target company by a foreign investor in individual cases on the basis of the Foreign Trade Act and the Foreign Trade Ordinance, said the ministry spokesman. The standard of review is whether the acquisition is likely to endanger public order or security.

The cartel office approved the handover

The Federal Cartel Office announced in February that the major shipping company Cosco was allowed to take over 80 percent of Zippel's shares from a competition perspective. At the end of April it became known that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution had concerns about the takeover.

Zippel transports goods by trains, ships and trucks, which arrive at the seaports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven, among others. According to previous information, the company has around 350 employees.

Cosco holds shares in a terminal

The Cosco shipping company is one of the largest in the world in terms of transport volume. Cosco already has a 24.99 percent stake in Hamburg's Tollerort container terminal. In 2022, a heated political dispute broke out in the then federal government over the question of whether Chinese participation should be permitted. The cabinet then decided to allow Cosco to acquire shares of less than 25 percent.