In an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Toft confidently stated that MSC would “bring additional transshipment volumes to Hamburg.”
Toft also told FAZ that MSC would look to harness the port’s intermodal potential:
“We believe in railways as an environmentally friendly means of transport. This can also be seen in individual investments that we have made in the past, for example in Portugal and Turkey. With the Metrans railway company, HHLA is well positioned towards Eastern Europe.”
Moreover, Toft stated that MSC would work together with Hapag-Lloyd, who had also expressed an interest in taking over the port:
“We will work closely with Hapag-Lloyd. We already have various collaborations in South America, so-called vessel sharing agreements. And it is also completely normal for a shipping company to call at terminals that belong to another shipping company.”
Also quoted in the report was Melanie Leonhard, Hamburg’s Economics Senator. She too referred to intermodal as an opportunity, as well as development opportunities in the Baltics and the Mediterranean:
“It is important that HHLA is much more than the port company in Hamburg. There are development opportunities, for example in the Baltics, on the Mediterranean. And HHLA really is strong in intermodal transport, which has a stabilising effect in economically difficult times. Strengthening all of this is a task for the future.”
For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the deal, MSC has committed to increasing terminal throughput to 1,000,000 TEU from 2031 onwards as well as to establish its German headquarters in Hamburg.
The aim of the partnership, says MSC, is “to establish a strong and well-funded basis for the further development of HHLA and the entire Port of Hamburg, making it a central hub for MSC’s globally connected network of container services and logistics chains.”
Further details regarding the financials of the agreement can be found here on our website.
Photo: Hummelhummel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons