The French group would be close to an agreement to acquire a stake in the Cth terminal, after the operations of Cosco and Msc in German ports
Marseille – According to an Alphaliner report, the French group Cma Cgm is in advanced negotiations to purchase a stake in Eurogate’s Cth container terminal, located in the port of Hamburg. The agreement would make the company of Rodolphe Saadé, the world’s third largest carrier by capacity, a co-owner of the terminal.
Industry sources indicate that Saadé recently visited Hamburg, and an official announcement between Cma Cgm and Eurogate Group could be forthcoming. The details on the stake and the value of the operation are not yet known.
The entry of Cma Cgm would make the company the third major international player to invest in Hamburg’s terminals in recent years. In 2021, the Chinese group Cosco purchased a 24.9% stake in Hhla’s Tollerort terminal, after a heated political debate in Germany about the sale of strategic infrastructure to a foreign state-owned operator.
In 2023, the Swiss-Italian Msc then signed an agreement with the Hamburg city council to become a strategic partner and shareholder of up to 49.9% of Hhla, in an operation worth around 1.2 billion euros.
According to Alphaliner, Cma Cgm had already been indicated in 2024 as a possible buyer of a 49% stake in Eurogate Hamburg. The Cth terminal currently has a capacity of 4 million teu, but a 1.1 billion euro expansion project — promoted by Eurogate and the city of Hamburg — will increase the capacity to 6 million Teu per year in the coming years.
