News / CMA CGM-Eurogate Hamburg investment deal 'back on the table'

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Investment by French carrier CMA CGM into Eurogate’s Hamburg container terminal could be back on the table, according to liner consultancy Alphaliner.

“Alphaliner understands that CMA CGM Group will soon sign an agreement to acquire a major shareholding in at least one German container terminal,” the analyst notes in its weekly report.

“The French liner giant is believed close to buying into Eurogate’s Hamburg terminal (CTH), a facility with a design capacity of about 4m teu,” it adds.

“Rodolphe Saadé, chairman and CEO of CMA CGM Group, very recently visited Hamburg and Alphaliner believes that an announcement between the carrier and Eurogate Group will be released soon.”

Rumours of M&A activity involving the German stevedore and CMA CGM emerged in the summer of 2024, after Hamburg city officials, at that time weighing up an expansion to Eurogate’s CTH facility, concluded the operator could not “financially handle the project on its own and needs a shipping company partner to support the investments and guarantee cargo in the long term”.

However, by the end of last year, talks between Eurogate and CAM CGM were reportedly called off, after they failed to agree terms.

However, this July, Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) and Eurogate formally agreed to press on with the 28ha CTH expansion project, which will see a new 1km quay built, the turnng basis expanded and CTH’s annual handling capacity upped to 6m teu.

The combined infrastructure cost for the works is estimated at €1.1bn ($1.3bn; while Eurogate will commit €700m – after signing a lease agreement with HPA – in the project that will include fully automating the existing CTH terminal and equipping the new area, where CMA CGM’s investment would likely to be directed.

However, given that Eurogate operates a range of joint-venture terminals, and is itself a joint-venture, there are several possible permutations for a tie-up with CMA CGM.

“CMA CGM might buy into CTH on a terminal level and become a partner of Eurogate, which is, in turn, a joint-venture of Hamburg’s privately owned Eurokai and Bremen’s public sector port company, BLG.

“Other, less likely, scenarios could see CMA CGM invest in Eurogate itself or in Eurokai,” Alphaliner said.

According to Eurokai, in the first half of this year CTH saw volumes grow 19.3%, year on year, to reach 1.12m teu, a growth rate far above market average and achieved as a result of both the shipping alliance network shake-up and MSC’s 2024 purchase of a 49.9% stake in Hamburg’s main operator, HHLA.

“Cargo handling in the first half was dominated by the transfer of MSC services to HHLA terminals and newly acquired services. The last MSC service was handled at the beginning of April,” Eurokai’s half-year report revealed.

“Hapag-Lloyd was acquired as a new customer group as part of the Gemini Cooperation. The first ship from the Gemini Cooperation was handled at the end of March, meaning that the lost MSC volumes could be replaced almost seamlessly by new handling volumes,” it added.

Meanwhile, Alphaliner estimates that CMA CGM currently accounts for around 30% of CTH volumes.