HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - Hamburg's Mayor Peter Tschentscher has urged the Hamburg Parliament to approve the controversial entry of the major shipping company MSC into the city's port logistics company HHLA. In a government statement on Wednesday, the SPD politician asked the MPs for a decision "that opens up new prospects for the port industry - new prospects for connecting our port to developments in global maritime transport and for strengthening Hamburg as an international business metropolis".

The current figures on throughput in the port underlined the urgency of such a decision, said Tschentscher. It was only on Tuesday that Hamburg Port Marketing announced a 4.7 percent decline in throughput last year to 114.3 million tons of seaborne cargo - the lowest figure since 2009.

The red-green Senate wants to bring MSC on board at HHLA in order to stabilize container handling. The city and the Italian Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) are 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 HHLA, which is listed on the stock exchange.

In return, the world's largest shipping company MSC wants to build its German headquarters in Hamburg, increase the cargo volume in the port from 2025 and increase it to an additional one million standard containers (TEU) per year by 2031. MSC and the city also want to increase HHLA's equity by 450 million euros.

The red-green Senate passed a corresponding resolution two weeks ago. The final decision by the city parliament is expected at the end of May.

Tschentscher appealed to the members of parliament: "Don't think about opposition and government categories, think about the future of the Port of Hamburg and its importance for our city."/fi/klm/DP/jha