Port of Duisburg: The silent retreat of the Chinese

IOn October 24, 2019, five men met on Alte Ruhrorter Strasse in the business premises of the Port of Duisburg. A notary, an authorized officer for the Port of Duisburg, a representative each from the Dutch logistics company HTS and the Swiss freight transport company Hupac – and Xiaoyun Wang, the managing director of Cosco Shipping Logistics Europe GmbH with sole power of representation. According to documents in the company register, the four companies involved founded Duisburg Gateway Terminal GmbH (DGT) almost exactly three years ago. The Port of Duisburg and Cosco each held 30 percent of the shares, while HTS and Hupac each held a fifth.

According to the statutes, the company, which was registered at the beginning of 2020, aims to build and operate a “trimodal container terminal” in the Port of Duisburg. Exactly where the coal used to be stored and shipped for decades, an area of ​​23,500 square meters with cranes, jetties and train tracks for the largest hinterland terminal in Europe is to be built. It should cost 85 million euros, the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony took place in March, and work should start on the former coal island in mid-2023.

“Absolute Silence”

While the possible Cosco participation in a Hamburg port terminal is making waves, the large-scale German-Chinese infrastructure project in Duisburg sailed under the radar. Apart from criticism from local politicians from the FDP and the Greens, there was hardly any audible criticism of the People’s Republic’s influence. But suddenly everything is different – China is out of the flagship project. According to an entry in the commercial register, the Port of Duisburg has held 60 percent of the shares in the newly planned terminal since the end of June, and thus everything that previously belonged to the Chinese. Only: Why?

“We have agreed absolute silence among ourselves,” said a spokesman for the Port of Duisburg on request. Cosco doesn’t comment anyway. When asked, the responsible Ministry of Transport in North Rhine-Westphalia states that it knew about the process. “As shareholders of Duisburger Hafen AG, we cannot say anything about the reasons,” said a spokesman. The timing of the departure of the Chinese speaks against the fact that there were political reasons. For Cosco, the participation was originally strategic, the state-owned company is following the “One Belt One Road” initiative promoted by China and also wants to expand train traffic and thus economic cooperation between China and Europe. As can be seen from the last available annual financial statements for the 2020 financial year, Cosco’s German company had also undertaken to make a further contribution of EUR 570,000 for Gateway-Terminal-GmbH. So the project was taken seriously for a long time.

Don’t you want to make fun of China?

When asked, the port emphasized the “business partnership” with Cosco that has grown over many years. The shipping company is an important customer. At the same time, the company cooperates with many international partners “without becoming dependent on individuals”. It’s also true that the new terminal will be the eleventh, and Cosco is just one of many shipping companies. But the reluctance of the city, state and port to the sudden exit from China could still be related to the fact that they simply don’t want to spoil things with the important partner. The new Chinese Consul General for NRW was only recently there, he received the ten thousandth loaded train from the Chinese logistics group Yuxinou. A photo of it with the board and city representatives is emblazoned in the current customer magazine of the port. The connection between Shenzhen and Duisburg was established with Sinotrans, the largest Chinese logistics company. A total of 19 Chinese cities are connected to the port.

infographicChinese containers

Duisburg has been twinning with Wuhan for 40 years, and the university is closely linked to the state. “Duisburg is an important investment location for Chinese companies in Europe,” says the city proudly. Not only does it afford a representative for China, who used to work for Duisport, but also its own department for China affairs, which is attached to the mayor. The economic driving force in recent years has always been the port, which as the end point of the New Silk Road is the German distribution center for train traffic from China. At the latest after the Chinese President Xi Jinping came to see it in 2014, the longtime port boss Erich Staake never missed an opportunity to emphasize the growing importance of trade with China. A good one in three train connections from China goes via Europe’s largest inland port.

Markus Bangen, who has been Staake’s successor since August 2021, is much more cautious about China. While the port emphasizes the importance of the New Silk Road, it is only part of the logistics business. And given the war in Ukraine, one that’s under particular pressure, given that the route goes through Russia. Although the train connections are not subject to sanctions, the port has recently felt a certain reluctance on the part of customers. There used to be 50 trains a week between Duisburg and China, but now it’s more like 30. They’re also not significant in terms of global logistics: 80 containers fit on a train, and a large cargo ship loads 24,000.