HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - The trade union Verdi is continuing its campaign against the entry of the world's largest shipping company MSC into the Hamburg port logistics company HHLA and is calling for further protests on Wednesday (5 p.m.). The aim of the demonstration is to emphatically underline the opposition to privatization, the union announced. The further privatization of the Port of Hamburg not only poses risks for the employees, but also endangers the interests of the city society.

The demonstration march will start in the Speicherstadt warehouse district in front of the headquarters of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and will lead to the economic authority. 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.

Hamburg's red-green Senate has now 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 Andreas Dressel (SPD) recently reaffirmed that co-determination would be retained. The printed matter states, among other things, that measures such as redundancies, outsourcing, changes to works agreements and collective agreements or leaving the employers' associations are excluded for five years and that existing co-determination regulations will remain unchanged.

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 due to the weakening economy. 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.

"In 2023, the war in Ukraine, geopolitical tensions, high inflation and rising interest rates weighed on the global economy and increasingly clouded economic development over the course of the year," explained HHLA CEO Angela Titzrath. HHLA will present its full financial figures on March 21./klm/DP/zb