When the Gdynia Container Terminal (GCT) on Poland’s Baltic coast was taken over by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports in 2005 it was quickly dubbed Gdynkong — a portmanteau of Gdynia and Hong Kong.
Twenty years on, Gdynkong is now caught in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.
Since his reelection last year, President Trump has repeatedly alleged Chinese interference in the Panama Canal and made it clear that he wants the US to “take back” the canal.
On March 5, he announced that an agreement had been reached with CK Hutchison that the US investment firm BlackRock would purchase majority shares in Hutchison’s Panama assets, including two ports at either end of the canal.
As part of the deal, BlackRock would also buy 80% of approximately 40 assets in Hutchison’s portfolio — one of which is the GCT in Poland.
The strategic importance of the GCT
However, the discussion about the strategic importance of the Hutchison-controlled GCT in Poland long predates President Trump’s push for greater control of the Panama Canal.
The terminal and the port in general are important in their own right not only for Poland, but also for NATO and Ukraine.
The GCT is located in the Port of Gdynia on the Baltic Sea. It is, therefore, on a main supply route from the West to Ukraine and close to infrastructure that is of strategic importance to both Poland and NATO. Indeed, the Polish government included the GCT on its list of critical infrastructure in 2024.
Other entities in the Port of Gdynia include the Baltic Container Terminal, which is used by US forces and is just 150 meters from the GCT, the Polish Navy Special Forces base, the PGZ shipyard, where the new missile frigates for the Polish Navy are being built, and the main naval port for the Polish Navy, which is frequently visited by NATO ships.
Security concerns
All this explains the GCT’s major strategic relevance. However, there are also concerns about the terminal owner’s ability to interfere with the port’s accessibility in general.
In August 2023, for example, equipment for the US Army was scheduled to be unloaded on a dock near the GCT. However, because the ship’s bow protruded about 50 meters into the zone owned by Hutchison, the company refused to agree to the unloading. The transshipment of the military equipment was unsuccessful.
Eric Hontz, director of the Center for Accountable Investment at the Center for International Private Enterprise explains why this is so critical.
Hontz says that were there to be an “accident” involving a commercial ship at the entrance to the port, much of the 3rd flotilla — the main strike force of the Polish Navy, whose main base is in the Port of Gdynia — would be stranded at port and, therefore, unable to assist in the event of Russian aggression.
“These grey zone tactics blending commercial and security missions are now part and parcel of both Russian and Chinese tactics,” Hontz told DW.
But if the ports are of such importance — both economic and strategic — to China, why would Chinese firm Hutchison agree to sell so many of these assets?
“CK Hutchison’s decision to sell [an] 80% stake in 43 ports in 23 countries to a US-led consortium is not a sign of China’s diminishing interest in controlling strategic ports in Europe and around the world. Instead, it appears to be a sign of a surprising disconnect between the Chinese government and the Hong Kong-based company,” Maia Nikoladze, an associate director within the GeoEconomics Center, told DW.
‘The Chinese have the final say’
Hutchison leases the land on which the GCT stands, not from the Port of Gdynia but from the City of Gdynia. Thanks to a deal signed in 2007, Hutchison has an exceptionally cheap lease on the site until 2089. It pays just 294,000 zlotys (€68,000 or $75,700) a year, the City of Gdynia told the O2 news portal.
“This is a story about how Poland lost control over a key part of the strategic NATO port in Gdynia,” journalist Lukasz Rucinski, told DW.
Rucinski, who has covered the evolving story for several years, says that Hutchison took advantage of legal loopholes and set up a special company in Luxembourg to allow it to gain control of land in the Port of Gdynia, making the terminal practically “extraterritorial.”
“It was a quiet process of handing over key infrastructure to the Chinese giant. Over the years, political decisions, strange arrangements and the lack of reaction from the state have meant that the Chinese have the final say. We also ask why they pay ridiculous amounts of money for perpetual usufruct of the port,” Rucinski adds.
Chinese companies active in other European ports
But Gdynia is not the only port in Europe where Chinese companies are active.
Hutchison has 53 terminals around the world, 13 of which are in Europe, including one each in Belgium, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Poland, as well as five in the Netherlands and three in the UK.
In 2023, the German government went ahead with a decision to sell 24.9% of a Hamburg port terminal to Chinese shipping company COSCO, despite security concerns and opposition from within the ruling coalition.
Not a done deal
For the moment, however, the sale of 80% of GCT to BlackRock is far from a done deal.
The transaction would first need to clear a number of regulatory hurdles in every jurisdiction that would be impacted by the sale, ranging from standard merger-control clearances on competition grounds to security-focused investment screening procedures, says Matej Simalcik, executive director of the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) in Bratislava.
“Any of the regulators may attach their conditions to the sale, which may impact how the deal looks in the end,” he told DW.
But quite apart from that, it is possible that the sale might not go ahead at all.
Chinese criticism of the proposed deal
The proposed sale of Hutchison assets to BlackRock drew heavy criticism from Chinese state-owned media and attracted the attention of China’s State Administration for Market Regulation. Indeed Beijing has launched an antitrust review into the proposed acquisition by BlackRock of CK Hutchison’ assets in the Panama Canal.
However, President Trump’s recent decision to impose reciprocal tariffs on imports from dozens of countries has also had an impact. After Trump announced a steep increase in tariffs on goods from China, China retaliated. Neither side seems to have any intention of backing down.
Earlier this week, NBC reported
that the sale of the two ports in the Panama Canal run by CK Hutchison was due to be signed last week, but was delayed following pressure from China.
How this delay and the escalation in tariffs between China and the US will impact the sale of the GCT in Poland remains to be seen.
Source: Deutsche Welle
