HHLA and Chinese shipping company COSCO in cooperation for 40 years

On 27 August 1982, COSCO’s MV FEN HE 01 was the first Chinese ship to reach what is now HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT). The ship’s arrival marked the beginning of a successful partnership between the Port of Hamburg and its largest trade partner, China.

Since then, a close relationship benefiting both sides has developed. The foundation for this successful partnership is not just built on the trade figures – it’s built on trust, reliability and mutual respect. Today, China is the Port of Hamburg’s largest customer, which benefits HHLA, Hamburg as a maritime location as well as the industrial nation of Germany. For a leading European logistics company like HHLA, connections to one of the largest and fastest growing markets in Asia is an important building block in the implementation of the company’s strategy, which is aimed at growing and strengthening our future viability.

The MV FEN HE 01 was 170 metres long, 28.4 metres wide and had a capacity of 1,234 standard containers. Back then, two on-board cranes were enough to handle the container throughput between ship and yard. Since then, CTT has become one of the most important European hubs in seaborne trade with China. The investments in high-performance, modern technology at CTT have ensured that the largest ships from international shipping companies can now dock there. Today, especially ultra large container ships are handled by COSCO at the CTT, which can transport more than 20,000 standard containers.