HL Terminal Holding (HLTH), a company wholly controlled by the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd and operating under the Hanseatic Global Terminals (HGT) brand, has entered into a preliminary agreement with the also German Eurogate —a joint venture of Eurokai and BLG Logistics— to acquire 20% of the share capital of Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg (CTH), a company currently 100% controlled by Eurogate and operator of the eponymous container terminal at the Port of Hamburg.
CTH has an annual operational capacity of 2.5 million TEUs and ranks among the main container cargo facilities at the Elbe port. The agreement includes investment commitments linked to the western expansion of the terminal, as well as to its automation, digitalization, and electrification.
In the same German enclave, HGT already holds a 25.1% stake in the terminal operator Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA), whose remaining 74.9% belongs to Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), which in turn operates the Burchardkai and Tollerort terminals.
The operation also contemplates a modification in the shareholding structure of Tanger Alliance, a company that manages the Container Terminal 3 (TC3) of the Moroccan port of Tangier Med. Currently, its capital is distributed between the Moroccan Marsa Maroc, with 50% plus one share; Hapag-Lloyd, with 10%; and the remaining 40% minus one share held by Eurogate and Contship Italia, the latter 66.6% owned by Eurokai and 33.4% by Eurogate.
According to the agreement, HLTH will acquire an additional 10% of Tanger Alliance, a share that will be ceded by Eurogate. In turn, Eurogate will transfer another 10% to Eurokai, which will maintain its final participation unchanged in the company. Thus, Hapag-Lloyd's stake in the Moroccan terminal will increase from 10% to 20%.
Dheeraj Bhatia, CEO of Hanseatic Global Terminals, remarked that the agreement consolidates the company's presence in Northern Europe: "We seek to promote, together with our partners, the development of efficient port infrastructure prepared for future challenges, optimizing the supply chain for the benefit of shippers, ports, and global trade."
For his part, Michael Blach, chairman of the board of Eurogate, referred to the historical relationship between both groups: "Hapag-Lloyd has been a strategic partner for Eurogate for decades. We want to enhance CTH as a reference logistics node in Northern Europe through the modernization, digitalization, automation, and electrification of cargo handling processes, ensuring high performance and considerably more sustainable operations."
Eurokai, for its part, has specified that negotiations continue with CMA Terminals, a subsidiary of the French shipping group CMA CGM, to cede 20% of the capital of Eurogate Container Terminal Hamburg, conversations that also include investment commitments linked to the western expansion of the terminal.
Founded in 2023 as an independent division within Hapag-Lloyd, Hanseatic Global Terminals aims to manage and expand the group’s terminal and infrastructure business. Its roadmap, called "Vision 2030", aims to reach a portfolio of approximately 30 port terminals worldwide.
The parties anticipate that the agreement will be formalized during the third quarter of this year. The final closure of the operation will be subject to approval by the relevant regulators and competition authorities.
