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HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - Hamburg's Mayor Peter Tschentscher has urged the members of the Hamburg Parliament to approve the entry of the major shipping company MSC into the city's port logistics company HHLA - but has fallen on deaf ears with the opposition. In a government statement on Wednesday, the SPD politician asked them for a decision "that opens up new perspectives for the port industry - new perspectives for connecting our port to developments in global maritime traffic and for strengthening Hamburg as an international business metropolis".

The opposition, however, unanimously rejects the Senate's plan to stabilize the port. Representatives of the CDU, Left Party, AfD and FDP accused the red-green Senate of a lack of transparency in the negotiations with MSC and saw the rights of HHLA employees at risk.

The current handling figures for the port underlined the urgency of such a decision, said Tschentscher. It was only on Tuesday that Hamburg Port Marketing announced a 4.7 percent decline in throughput last year to 114.3 million tons of seaborne cargo - the lowest figure since 2009.

The red-green Senate wants to bring MSC on board at HHLA in order to stabilize container handling. The city and the Italian Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) are to run HHLA as a joint venture in future, with the city holding a majority stake of 50.1 percent. To date, the city has owned around 70 percent of HHLA, which is listed on the stock exchange.

In return, the world's largest shipping company MSC wants to build its German headquarters in Hamburg, increase the volume of cargo in the port from 2025 and increase it to one million standard containers (TEU) per year by 2031. MSC and the city also want to increase HHLA's equity by 450 million euros.

The red-green Senate passed a corresponding bill two weeks ago. It will now first be discussed in the committees at expert hearings. The final decision by the Bürgerschaft is expected at the end of May.

Tschentscher appealed to the members of parliament: "Don't think about opposition and government categories, think about the future of the Port of Hamburg and its importance for our city."

CDU parliamentary group leader Dennis Thering, on the other hand, warned: "This deal is bad for Hamburg." The SPD is selling off municipal property. At the same time, the Senate shines through a lack of transparency. The public rightly expects "the Senate to explain the reasons why the deal was ultimately concluded with MSC and not with other important port players here in Hamburg".

Thering accused the red-green Senate of having a poor port policy. The CDU does not reject external investments in the port, nor is MSC the wrong partner. Rather, the CDU considers the Senate's approach and the chosen structure to be completely wrong. The consequences of the decision will probably only become apparent in five years' time, for example when the outflow of cargo from other shipping companies exceeds the additional handling by MSC. The protection against redundancies for operational reasons is limited to five years, Thering referred to the printed matter already adopted by the Senate. "Has the Senate forgotten about the break-up of the former shipping company Hamburg Süd, which was also promised for five years?" There is hardly anything left of this company today.

"You have not been able to convince me and my parliamentary group today," said Thering, referring to the mayor's government statement. At the same time, he appealed to the MPs to reject the deal. "Do the right thing for our city."

The motives of the Senate for the deal with MSC remained unclear even after the mayor's government statement, said Norbert Hackbusch, port expert for the left-wing parliamentary group. "I have the feeling that there is a wish that everything will be better if you throw yourself at a big shipping company. But that is no basis for such a deal." He also did not accept the argument that the MSC stake would secure container handling in Hamburg: "There are shipping companies in Bremerhaven, and Bremerhaven has also lost handling."

High investments are needed to maintain the port infrastructure and provide space. "There is no indication that MSC would be involved in this in any way," said Hackbusch. "And that is why you are also promising cloud cuckoo land here," said Hackbusch.

"The crisis in the Port of Hamburg is home-made," said AfD parliamentary group leader Dirk Nockemann. The constant crossover between the SPD and the Greens had prevented the port from being maintained and further developed for years and had weakened the confidence of the economy. "While the splendor of past years was upheld, the port infrastructure rotted away for everyone to see."

FDP MP Anna von Treuenfels-Frowein pointed out the risks of the deal. "This deal threatens the heart of Hamburg's economy." What would the Senate do if the MSC owner family Aponte decided to sell its own company, "for example to Chinese frustrated with Tollerort", she asked, alluding to the Chinese state shipping company Cosco's investment in HHLA's Tollerort terminal. How would the Senate then prevent the port from coming under foreign control?/fi/klm/DP/jha