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ContainerSignal Daily: Berlin blocks COSCO's Zippel takeover

By Toni Tan · · 8 min read

The German cabinet has blocked COSCO Shipping’s planned acquisition of an 80% stake in Hamburg freight forwarder Konrad Zippel, overriding an earlier competition clearance on national security grounds. The decision marks a harder line from Berlin on Chinese investment in European transport and logistics. The same week brought renewed security risk in the southern Red Sea, where a container ship was fired on, and a drought-driven diversion at the Panama Canal that is sending more vessels around South America.

Today’s Signals

Regulation & Policy

Germany’s federal cabinet approved the prohibition on 7 October, Splash 247 reports, with the economy ministry saying the transaction would have deepened strategic dependencies and threatened the resilience of German and EU supply chains. WorldCargo News reports that concerns centred on Zippel’s role in logistics for the defence sector and NATO, and that the forwarder moved about 205,000 TEU out of Hamburg and Bremerhaven in 2024 by road, rail and inland waterway with a fleet of about 200 trucks. COSCO had cleared Germany’s Federal Cartel Office in February, which reviews competition only; the separate foreign investment review examined security. COSCO planned to take 80%, with chief executive Axel Plass keeping 20% and continuing to lead the company. The block follows Berlin’s intervention over COSCO’s stake in HHLA’s Tollerort terminal in Hamburg, where the carrier holds 24.99%.

Trade Routes

A Singapore-flagged container ship was fired on by a small craft in the southern Red Sea, north of the Bab el-Mandeb, early on 7 October, The Maritime Executive reports. The EU-sponsored Maritime Security Centre Indian Ocean received the report, and security consultants identified the vessel as the CUL Klang, a 2,433 TEU ship operated by China’s CUL Lines, which was continuing its northbound passage with no crew injuries. No group has claimed responsibility, and the report notes that small boats in the area have at times approached vessels for reasons other than attack. The details are not fully confirmed.

Drought conditions at the Panama Canal are pushing more ships around South America. Traffic through the Strait of Magellan rose more than 70% in both August and September from a year earlier, gCaptain reports, citing Chilean Navy data obtained by Bloomberg. The increase was concentrated among vessels of 60,000 to 65,000 gross register tons, and the data run from 1 January 2025 to 24 September 2026. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kenneth Loh attributes the shift mainly to the drought, with disruption in the Middle East also pushing some operators moving cargo from South America and West Africa to Asia to avoid the region.

Ports

The Port of Savannah handled a record 504,015 TEU in September, up 3.7% from a year earlier, gCaptain reports. Loaded imports rose 5.5%. Georgia Ports Authority said the month lifted container traffic for the first quarter of its fiscal year above 1.5m TEU, up 2.7% or 40,560 TEU, its second-strongest fiscal first quarter. The authority attributes the gain to consumer demand and an extended peak season, with typhoon-related delays at Asian ports shifting cargo into September.

In Angola, DP World has won a 10-year extension to its concession to operate the multipurpose terminal at the Port of Luanda, taking the term to 2051, WorldCargo News reports. The operator says it has invested more than US$260m since 2021 and nearly doubled annual throughput from 177,000 TEU to more than 350,000 TEU. A further US$90m over two years will extend the quay by 222m, add 10 hectares of operating area and raise design capacity to 1.2m TEU, with three ship-to-shore cranes and 12 semi-automated RTG cranes.

Freight Rates

The Freightos Baltic Index global composite stood at US$3,343 per 40ft container in its latest weekly reading, Container News reports, down 1% from US$3,380.40 the previous week, as Transpacific gains slowed and Asia-Europe rates kept falling. That is the pattern Drewry has charted on Asia-Europe, where spot rates have now declined for 12 consecutive weeks. Container freight rate indexes explained sets out how the benchmarks are compiled. On the hinterland, Maersk has revised its Rhine low water surcharges, Container News reports, with the charge varying by the water level at Duisburg-Ruhrort, Kaub and Cologne and valid until further notice; Maersk says it cannot guarantee cargo loading below 81cm at Kaub or 181cm at Duisburg-Ruhrort.

What It Means

Germany’s block shows that container hinterland logistics and terminal stakes are now screened as strategic infrastructure in the EU, raising execution risk for Chinese carriers’ European investments and treating inland road and rail links such as Zippel’s as part of the security perimeter. A single small-craft incident does not by itself change Red Sea routings, but it keeps war-risk and insurance considerations live as carriers weigh Suez transits against the longer Cape of Good Hope route. The Magellan diversion shows drought at one chokepoint continuing to add distance and fuel cost to South America to Asia flows. At the ports, Savannah’s record and Luanda’s expansion both point to capacity being added where demand and gateway competition are strongest.

Quick Bites

  • The US Federal Maritime Commission has threatened COSCO with a penalty of between US$3.3m and US$16.7m over a 223-day delay in paying a US$24,328 reparations award, The Loadstar reports, an escalation of the non-payment dispute reported earlier this week. Demurrage vs detention explains the charges at the centre of the order.
  • Swire Shipping will introduce container maintenance charges on general-purpose equipment arriving in several European markets and South Africa from 5 November 2026, Container News reports, with the same rate for 20ft and 40ft containers and a code of MCD.
  • DP World has brought four new ship-to-shore cranes to its UK ports, WorldCargo News reports: the first pair, each over 2,000t and supplied by ZPMC, arrived at London Gateway on 25 September for the new Berth 5, and a second pair is due at Southampton, taking that terminal to 16 STS cranes. The cranes can handle ships of up to 24,000 TEU.

Sources

Background reading

The explainers behind today's stories, if you want the fundamentals first.

Asia-Europe rates fall even as the container network stays tight

Asia-Europe spot rates fell for a twelfth week while intra-Asia set another record and mid-size tonnage ran scarce. The two readings measure different layers.

Asia-Europe spot rates extend their fall as Transpacific gains stall

Drewry's World Container Index fell 1% to US$4,434 per 40ft in the week to 1 October, Asia-Europe's twelfth weekly decline, while Transpacific gains slowed.

What is the EU Emissions Trading System for shipping?

The EU ETS puts a carbon price on ships of 5,000 GT and above calling at EU ports. What container carriers must surrender, and what it costs shippers.

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