Hundreds of people in Hamburg including port workers turned out to protest against the entry of the world's largest shipping company MSC into the Hamburg port logistics company HHLA on Wednesday.
They marched from the headquarters of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik in the Speicherstadt warehouse district to the MSC branch then onwards to the economic authorities, repeatedly chanting "Our harbour, our city, smash the MSC deal."
The police initially said there were around 500 participants.
Some 2,500 people protested against the controversial deal in September. HHLA staff walked out in a day-long protest against the agreement in December.
However, Hamburg's governing Senate has officially approved the entry of MSC into HHLA and the city parliament could approve the deal in May.
Under the deal, the city of Hamburg and Geneva-based Italian Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) would run HHLA as a joint venture, with the city holding a majority stake of 50.1%.
The city currently owns around 70% of HHLA, which is to remain in its current form until the end of 2026.
The port of Hamburg is the largest in Germany by volume and among the most important harbours in northern Europe.
