BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Chinese state-owned group Cosco may acquire only 24.99 percent of the shares in Hamburg port operator HHLA's Tollerort container terminal, as previously planned. This was announced by the spokesman for the German government, Steffen Hebestreit, in Berlin on Wednesday. The terminal is now considered a critical infrastructure operator, he said.

Cosco originally wanted to take over 35 percent of the operating company of Container Terminal Tollerort GmbH and upgrade the terminal to Europe's preferred transhipment hub in return. However, a dispute had erupted in the German government over whether to allow Chinese participation. Last October, the cabinet decided on a so-called partial prohibition, which only allows Cosco to acquire a stake of less than 25 percent. Any further acquisition above this threshold was prohibited.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had spoken out in favor of the acquisition. However, there had been fierce headwind within the German government. The Foreign Ministry and other departments had expressed serious reservations about the cabinet's decision.

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) welcomed the decision of the German government to release the minority shareholding of the Chinese company Cosco Shipping Ports Limited (CSPL) in Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT). The decision would allow CTT to be developed into a preferred handling point for HHLA's long-standing customer Cosco, where cargo flows between Asia and Europe would be concentrated. HHLA and CSPL will now "finalize the transaction in a timely manner," the statement added.

Currently, China is the largest trading partner of Germany and the Port of Hamburg, HHLA said. Around 30 percent of the goods handled at the Port of Hamburg come from China or go to China, according to HHLA. CSPL's minority shareholding thus secures employment and strengthens Hamburg's national and international importance as a logistics location as well as Germany as an industrial nation./hrz/sl/DP/stw