HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - Hundreds of port workers and sympathizers have once again taken to the streets in protest against the acquisition of the world's largest shipping company MSC by the Hamburg port logistics company HHLA. On Wednesday, they marched from the headquarters of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) in the Speicherstadt warehouse district to the nearby MSC branch and from there to the economic authorities. They repeatedly chanted "Our port, our city, smash the MSC deal".

The police initially spoke of around 500 participants. In September 2023, around 2,500 people had already taken to the streets against the controversial deal. In November, HHLA employees also walked off the job for a day in protest in a wildcat strike.

A number of speakers attacked the ruling SPD in particular, with Mayor Peter Tschentscher, Economics Senator Melanie Leonhard and Finance Senator Andreas Dressel (all SPD). They accused her of redistributing social wealth. In the past, the port workers had voted for the SPD as a whole, mainly because of its proximity to the workers and its social commitment. That is now a thing of the past. The loud protesters warned the Senate "MSC is ripping you off" and carried signs reading "Our port - not your casino".

Hamburg's red-green Senate has already officially approved the agreed entry of the Hapag-Lloyd rival into HHLA and forwarded a corresponding printed matter to the city parliament, which was able to finalize the deal in May. The city and the Geneva-based Italian Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) intend 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 the listed HHLA, which is to remain in its current form until the end of 2026.

Finance Senator Dressel recently reaffirmed that co-determination would be retained. The printed matter states, among other things, that measures such as redundancies for operational reasons, changes to company agreements and collective agreements or leaving the employers' associations are excluded for five years and that existing co-determination regulations will remain unchanged.

HHLA's Chief Human Resources Officer Torben Seebold explained on Wednesday that the Executive Board takes the concerns and worries of employees very seriously. "This is precisely why we have been lobbying the city and MSC from the outset to ensure that employee rights are comprehensively and bindingly safeguarded." This has already been a success. "We are continuing to work on making the company competitive and thus preserving jobs in Hamburg and for HHLA," emphasized Seebold.

MSC is already involved in around 70 terminals worldwide via a subsidiary, for example in Bremerhaven in a joint venture with Eurogate. MSC is privately owned by the Aponte family and also operates a significant cruise business with MSC Cruises. In Hamburg, MSC and the city want to increase HHLA's equity by 450 million euros. The shipping company also wants to increase its cargo volume from 2025 onwards and increase it to an additional one million standard containers per year by 2031.

HHLA earned less than expected last year. According to preliminary figures, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to 109 million euros, as the company announced. The result was therefore below the expected range of 115 million to 135 million euros. In the 2022 financial year, profit amounted to 220 million euros. Turnover fell by 8.3 percent to 1.45 billion euros. HHLA plans to present the full business figures on March 21./klm/DP/he